Controlled
by SpangleBangle
Summary: Clashshipping on Kaiba's blimp. If only your enemy understands you, what can you do? Do you fight him, or accept him?
1. Chapter 1

I'm back! Hooray! ... *cricket chirping* ...ahem.

While looking through my other fics I had an epiphany: my stuff is basically all out of character sillyness. Well, it's all in-character in that it's in-character with my RP group, but I'm not even gonna pretend that's a good excuse for you people who don't know the references. So I've started this fic to sorta explain what I imagine was _really_ going on at night on the blimp. This is my attempt at showing you guys why I love Clashshipping in a more-canon way. We cool?

Marik = Yami Marik, Mailk = hikari. See, no YGOTAS references!

Contains _serious smut. More than usual. _Enjoy~

All characters (c) Kazuki Takahashi. I was reading an epic Prideshipping fic the other day where the author raised the point that seeing as this is a site for fanfiction it doesn't really make sense to do disclaimers. Well, I look at it in that they're a way of giving a bit of a nod, a bit of credit, to the cool beans who created the worlds we like to play in. Okay? :) On with the porn- I mean, fic. ^^

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

Yugi paced restlessly in his room aboard Kaiba's blimp. They were on their way to the final location of the Battle City Tournament, which Kaiba hadn't felt generous enough to reveal yet. He couldn't sleep for worry; this tournament had been the worst he'd ever been in, even worse than when Pegasus had trapped his grandfather in a card, his fate dependent on Yugi's victory. First the strange man Odion, then poor Ryou and now Mai had been consumed by the ShadowRealm and by Marik's insatiable cruelty. It had been hard enough going into this tournament with Ishizu's warnings that the fate of the world hung on winning this, but it was even worse now he knew that unless Marik was stopped he and his friends would be in danger too. Joey was still in the competition, as was Kaiba. He didn't want either of them to get hurt. And then there was the Spirit, the Pharaoh, Yami.  
>Yugi looked over at the spirit who sat on the edge of the bed by Yugi, watching him solemnly. If Marik won, Yami would be taken and his power used for evil.<br>Yami, always knowing what was on Yugi's mind, put a ghostly hand on Yugi's shoulder, though Yugi still felt the warmth of it.  
>"You should get some sleep," the Pharaoh said kindly. "Rest yourself for our biggest challenge yet. We must be ready to face whatever Kaiba or Marik throw at us."<br>Yugi nodded, absently polishing the Millennium Puzzle. "I know I should, but I can't sleep. My mind just turns to worrying about what should happen if… if we fail."  
>"We can't fail," Yami said with a quiet confidence, squeezing Yugi's shoulder. "Our teamwork is infallible, our deck near-unbeatable, and our cause just. There is no way we cannot prevail, even though the odds and risks are so high. You must trust in your friends, and your own abilities Yugi. And get some sleep, too."<br>Yugi smiled weakly and lay down under the covers. Yami remained sitting on the bed, watching Yugi's face as he slowly relaxed. He, too, was worried, but knew he could not let it show in front of Yugi, who was fragile enough at the moment. So he kept his anxiety and self-doubt to himself, locked in his mind as securely as his essence was locked in the Puzzle. He couldn't help but feel that if he could remember _something_, just _something_ from his past, it could help them. If he could remember what he had done in his days as Pharaoh, surely they would have some sort of edge over Marik?  
>He smiled to himself as he realised that neither he or Yugi were considering Kaiba or Joey to be a threat, assuming that they would face Marik in the ultimate end. Well, it was their destiny to do so, but it still seemed almost comically arrogant to assume that Joey would roll over without a fight – though he would help as much as he could, in any event – and that they would be able to beat Kaiba. Kaiba was a tough opponent, still their toughest opponent since Duellist Kingdom. Sure, they had beaten him before, quite a few times, but with each duel Kaiba only got more cunning, his deck more powerful, his strategies harder to twist back on him. If they couldn't beat Kaiba to duel Marik, then Yami had no doubt that their cause would be lost. There was no way Kaiba could beat Marik, after all. Marik was simply too strong, and only Yami and Yugi had a chance of beating him.<br>Yugi tossed in his bed, drawing Yami's focus back into the room. He smoothed a translucent hand over Yugi's brow, sighing. The little one was too anxious to sleep and Yami felt it in their soul-link.  
>"Yugi," he said softly, and Yugi opened his eyes. "Why don't you let me take over so you can rest."<br>"What about you? Don't you need your rest too?"  
>Yami smiled at the concern in Yugi's eyes, but couldn't help but feel saddened that Yugi didn't know that he could never sleep, as just a spirit. Only when he was in control of Yugi's body was he able to do normal human things again. In the Puzzle, he just paced and tried to remember things. It was horrible.<br>"I'm fine, little one," he said. "You need your rest more."  
>Yugi sighed and relinquished control over to Yami.<br>Yami blinked and stretched his arms, feeling the sensations of flesh again almost shockingly sharply. Every time he and Yugi transferred places he was stunned by the sheer feeling of being human again. He walked around the room for a moment, getting used to real legs again and making sure he didn't stumble over things in the dark room. He felt Yugi's mind go to sleep, nestled in the Puzzle and safe there. He stared out the window at the clear night sky, hearing the dull thump and rattle of the blimp's engine sound sonorously through the velvety night. He opened the window and stuck his head out with difficulty, battling with the wind at this altitude. But it felt good.  
>It was so cold outside, and fresh, he wanted more of it, he wanted to feel the wind against his face again. So he walked briskly out and into the corridors, heading for the top deck.<br>He didn't know there was another sleepless passenger abroad in the hallways.  
>He heard a whisper of cloth against the wall and turned but there was no one there. He frowned, pausing with his hand on the door handle to outside. He thought he heard a tread on the carpet but again, it was just him. Shrugging, he turned back to face the door and was about to turn the handle when something slammed him up against the wall.<br>Yami felt his breath come hard and he struggled against his captor, heart racing in fear. There was a hand on the back of his neck, forcing his face against the wall and another large hand pinning his hands above his head. A tall, solidly built body crushed him against the wall and he felt hot breath ghost over his ear.  
>"Who is that?" He asked with as much authority and confidence as he could while helpless like this. A dark chuckle answered him and his face was pressed harder into the wall. Marik. "What do <em>you<em> want, you evil creature?" Yami spat.  
>Another chuckle. "Take a wild stab in the dark, Pharaoh."<br>For a moment Yami was stunned. "You… you called me Pharaoh…?" he said uncertainly.  
>"Of course," Marik said, sounding irritated. "That <em>is<em> your title."  
>Yami couldn't believe it. Not even Yugi really called him that. The others just called him a spirit, the keeper of the Puzzle, and other such vagaries. To them, he was just a spirit that helped Yugi. Kaiba even refused to acknowledge his existence.<br>Marik seemed annoyed at Yami's cool even in this position. He was trying to put the Pharaoh off-balance and he seemed to have succeeded, though not in the way he had planned. He tightened his grip on Yami's wrists so his fingertips turned purple. Yami gave a small hiss of discomfort, jolted back to the present.  
>"What do you want?" he asked again, trying to turn his head to look at Marik, but that strong hand wormed through his hair to the back of his head and pushed his face back against the wall.<br>"I will beat you, Pharaoh," he said in a low, menacing voice, lips hovering just over Yami's ear. He shivered and goose-bumps erupted all over his body at Marik's hot breath against his skin, so very uncomfortably close. "You cannot win against me." So saying, he yanked on Yami's hair.  
>To Yami's surprise, that touch sent a little quiver of heat down his spine. He must have made some noise because Marik did it again, and Yami was able to put a name to that jolt of heat. Pleasure. He felt himself blush and was actually thankful Marik had pressed his face into the wall. If Marik knew that in trying to hurt him, he had actually succeeded in giving him pleasure… he didn't know what the evil spirit would do. It surprised him enough that in a situation like this, at the mercy of his most hated rival, he was unexpectedly enjoying it.<br>Marik tugged again, harder, and Yami felt the pain transform into liquid fire in his body, and the unwanted pleasure pooled in his groin. This time a tiny little gasp escaped his lips, a rapid intake of breath that could never be mistaken for one of pain.  
>"What's this, Pharaoh?" Marik said, sounding like he was grinning. Yami's heart sank. "Are you having fun?"<br>Yami didn't answer but struggled against his captor. Marik gave a low laugh, making Yami shiver.  
>"Out of all the reactions I'd expected to get out of you, I didn't expect this."<br>Yami tried again to free himself but Marik was too strong.  
>"Oh dear, Pharaoh," Marik chuckled. "So lonely in that Puzzle of yours that something like this makes you happy? Are you glad of the attention, hmm?"<br>Yami was ashamed to think that there was an element of truth in Marik's words. It felt good to have someone, anyone, acknowledge him as a being other than that of a benevolent spirit in Yugi's mind. It felt good to be seen. Not that he would ever admit that, especially not to someone such as Marik, of all people.  
>Marik's body pressed closer against his own, pushing him right up against the wall. He felt the other man's hips crush into his own, pinning him more effectively than anything he had ever known.<br>"I wonder, if I were to do this…" Marik said musingly, and started slowly grinding his hips back and forth against Yami's. Yami gasped again and to his horror, pleasure arced through him in a heady rush with every movement.  
>"Stop this," he said weakly, trying to summon his usual fire but unable to due to the distracting sensation of Marik grinding against him.<br>"You are in no position to be making demands, Pharaoh," Marik said darkly, breath hot on Yami's ear and neck as his hips kept their slow pace. "You are completely helpless. You can't even move your head." So saying, Marik tugged again on Yami's hair. Yami bit his lip to smother the sound that begged to be made. Being helpless like this… he was deeply ashamed to think in the darkest corners of his mind that it felt good to be so liberated of responsibility. He couldn't struggle against Marik, and the consequences were all down to the other man. Yami was blameless, and not responsible. The repercussions were not his to take, for _once_. And by Ra it felt good.  
>"This wasn't what I had planned, but I'll take what I've got," Marik said, nails raking down Yami's wrist and grinding harder. Yami gave a shuddering gasp as he felt the hardness of the other man's groin against his arse, Marik's knee nudging Yami's apart.<br>"Stop," he said again, knowing this was wrong, he shouldn't want this as much as he did, he shouldn't want Marik, full stop! This was the man who had hurt so many of his friends, who threatened the world, who could kill him on a whim, and all he could think was of how damnably good it felt to be noticed. And Marik knew it too.  
>"Who'd have thought, the great and mighty Pharaoh so turned on by a little molesting," Marik laughed. "And this is nothing to what I could do to you."<br>Marik pushed his hips hard into Yami's suddenly, so hard Yami felt Marik's erection press between his buttocks. He groaned and immediately regretted it as Marik laughed, a note of real cruelty in his voice. But then Marik did it again, and again.  
>"Get off me," Yami moaned, horrified by how turned on he was.<br>"But Pharaoh," Marik said in mock-hurt, "Aren't you curious as to your past?"  
>"What does that have to do with anything?" Yami forced out between gritted teeth.<br>"I've got your history scarred into my back, remember? Or at least into little Malik's back, and therefore mine. You should want to spend more time with me, Pharaoh. You should be begging for the chance to find out everything you've ever wondered about yourself, your reign. I have all the information you crave, just under a thin layer of material, so easily removed."  
>Yami had to admit, the knowledge was tempting, the feel of Marik's body crushed against his even more so. But if he agreed… it would be willing. And he shouldn't be willing. <em>He should not want this.<br>_"I'll make you beg, never fear," Marik said and tightened his grip on Yami before pulling him away from the wall, pushing Yami to walk in front of him, held by the wrists behind Yami's back and by his hair. Yami stumbled forward, breathing fast. There really was _nothing_ he could do, Marik was just so much stronger than he was, so much taller, so much more in control. There was no doubt in Yami's mind that Marik could do literally _anything_ he liked to Yami, and the former Pharaoh would be completely unable to stop him.  
>The thought made desire course through him in a sickeningly hot pulse.<br>He was marched through the dark corridors quickly, stumbling over his feet when he made a wrong turning and wad yanked by the hair in the right direction. They were headed to Marik's room and neither said a word; Yami was too embarrassed and hot to be able to say anything and Marik wanted to savour the moment of complete dominion over the Pharaoh, though he suspected the moment was going to last a long while.  
>Marik kicked the door closed behind them and forced Yami into his bedroom, pushing the former Pharaoh onto his front on the bed, kneeling over him.<br>"What are you going to do to me?" Yami asked, voice muffled by the bedclothes.  
>Marik didn't answer and Yami was facedown so couldn't see the evil spirit get the Millennium Rod out of a belt-loop and give it a casual wave. He saw the Shadows, though, creeping towards him, surrounding them, and binding his wrists in their cold grip to the headboard.<br>"That's better," Marik said with satisfaction, releasing his grip on Yami's hands. "Now I have two hands free, to do whatever I want with you… I think I'll play with you for a while, you seemed to enjoy that earlier. I know I did."  
>Yami didn't try to deny it, didn't deny that his body was singing with traitorous anticipation, desire hot in his blood, hotter with every touch and every beat of his heart. He closed his eyes and bit the bedclothes as Marik's hands wandered all over his body in feather-light touches that inflamed his skin and made him squirm in agonised pleasure. When Marik slipped his hands under Yami's shirt Yami's whole body shuddered at the coolness of Marik's fingers pressing against his hot skin, pressing lightly and teasingly, so teasingly, stroking his spine and ribs.<br>"This is so wrong," Yami moaned into the bed. "I should hate you for all you've done…"  
>Marik leaned over him, hips flush against Yami's again – he groaned – as he whispered directly into Yami's ear. "That's part of the charm, Pharaoh. And don't you just love it."<br>Yami shivered at the feel of Marik's breath, hopelessly turned on by the whole situation and not really caring to examine why. Marik's tongue darted out and licked along Yami's ear, chuckling at Yami's sounds of pleasure.  
>"My, my, Pharaoh, I never thought you'd be this desperate to be touched that you'd let your worst enemy do this to you."<br>"Me neither," Yami mumbled. It was true, after all. He literally could not remember the last time anyone had touched him like this. It was unbelievably sweet. "Wh-Why are you doing this?"  
>Marik stopped his hands and considered the question. "To show you that I will beat you, when the time comes. That you will not be able to stop me from taking your power in the end, just like you can't stop me from doing <em>this<em>."  
>He reached under Yami and grabbed hard at his crotch, squeezing Yami's erection harshly. Yami gasped and squirmed, feeling himself harden even more under that touch.<br>"And, of course," Marik continued smugly, "To have a little bit of fun with the unshakeable, incorruptible, forever-in-control Pharaoh. You love not being in control now, don't you my dear?"  
>"I'm not your dear," Yami said weakly, knowing he should protest about something more important like Marik's hand stroking him, but unable to summon any will to do so.<br>"Of course not," Marik said sarcastically, but otherwise let the matter drop. Yami wasn't completely reassured he had pressed his point but soon couldn't bring himself to care as Marik started slowly undressing him. "I'm going to have fun doing you," he murmured, admiring Yami's lean, pale body slowly revealed in the moonlight from the window. The Shadows ate at his clothes so Marik only had to sit back and enjoy the sight. Yami finally lay completely naked, face down on Marik's bed, without even his customary collar to protect his modesty from Marik's hungry gaze. Yami tried twisting his head around to look at Marik but couldn't quite do it and tugged against his Shadow-bonds. Naturally they held firm and only tightened when he pulled against them. He soon desisted.  
>"Completely at my mercy," Marik murmured, running his hands down Yami's back and over his arse and thighs, the former Pharaoh's moans music to his ears. "Once so proud, now sunk so low. What is it you're enjoying so much, my dear? Is it not being in control? Not having to take the blame? Sheer loneliness? The fact I have your secrets in my possession? That forbidden-fruit feeling to be touched by your enemy?"<br>Yami refused to answer. Marik parted his thighs with strong, cool hands and explored with his fingertips, teasing touches that made Yami's body jerk and twitch.  
>"Or is it all of the above, hmm?"<br>He ran his fingernail along the underside of Yami's erection base to tip and Yami thrashed shamelessly, trying to get more contact. Marik chuckled. "I'll take that as an absolute yes."  
>The next few minutes melted into a single second of delirious time for Yami as his naked body was caressed from every angle with meticulous attention; Marik hitting every tender spot with instinctive precision and reducing Yami to a groaning mess.<br>"That's enough of that," Marik said firmly. "Let's have a proper look at you."  
>Yami was flipped over, Shadows around his wrists twisting accommodatingly. He drew his legs up slightly, trying to conceal himself, but his half-hearted attempt was useless. Marik made a sound deep in his throat that could have been a purr if Yami didn't know better, and through half-lidded eyes he saw Marik lean over him, eyes drinking in his moonlit body. Then he slowly pulled his black vest over his head, tossing it to the floor carelessly.<br>Yami couldn't help but stare. By Ra, the man was impressive. Marik laughed at Yami's staring and unbuckled his belt, so slowly undoing his flies. Yami couldn't believe the primal need that controlled him now; it didn't matter in his mind that this was Marik, the man who had caused so much misery, the man he should despise. All that mattered was that Yami needed to be seen as separate from Yugi, needed to be relieved of control, needed to be appreciated, needed to be touched and given release. It went beyond all reason into pure lust, and he saw it reflected in Marik's eyes. Soon they were both naked and Marik forcefully yanked Yami's legs apart and around his waist, grinding again. They both cried out at the contact, hard for each other and loving the feeling of their burning skin meeting. Marik pulled Yami's hips up so they were even closer and ground hard against Yami, like before against the wall, but so much harder. It was delicious.  
>Yami stared up at Marik in the dim room as their bodies moved together. Fleetingly, Yami thought the look on Marik's face as their erections rubbed against each other was the sexiest thing he had ever seen, all pleasure and animalistic desire. But all thought was suspended as Marik's fingers plunged into Yami's tight entrance, stretching the muscles and teasing, flitting over that sweet spot deep inside Yami that he prayed Marik would touch just a little harder, just a bit more, for he wanted this so badly the pressure was unbearable, he felt like he was going to burst at any second.<br>"I'm going to have you, Pharaoh," Marik breathed, eyes filled with dark glee. "I'm going to plunge right inside you and take you harder than you've ever felt before. And you'll enjoy it, you'll beg for more, you'll learn to crave my touch. And maybe I'll let you release." His hand withdrew from Yami and clenched hard around Yami's swollen dick, making Yami whimper and buck. Marik laughed again, the sound caressing Yami's hot body, and as promised he plunged right in, brutally hard, and oh Gods but Yami loved it. He welcomed the pain knowing pleasure raced on its heels. His legs tightened convulsively, drawing Marik yet deeper, and his inner muscles clenched around Marik's dick; Marik hissed with pleasure and pulled Yami's hips up higher, impaling himself further.  
>Yami felt like he was going to be ripped in two from the sheer size and force of the penetration but thrust his hips up breathlessly, not caring how much it hurt because it felt so goddamn <em>good<em>…  
>Just as Marik had said, he thrust into Yami hard and fast, in and out in a harsh rhythm that Yami frantically tried to match, whole body straining with the effort of trying to swallow Marik, loving the sweet feeling of this lust more than matched by his captor. That sweet spot was hit and Yami arched his back, inner walls convulsing again and bolts of white-hot pleasure ripping through him. Marik purred and his hand clenched around Yami's dick, making Yami convulse all over again. Now whenever he thrust Marik made sure to slam into that sweet spot, his hand rubbing vigorously up and down Yami's length. Yami was in the helpless throes of lust, so close to coming, so close it was agony.<br>"Not yet, my dear Pharaoh," Marik grunted, yanking Yami's hips yet higher to the accompaniment of Yami's yelp. "I'm in control here, and I'll control your release."  
>Yami nodded frantically – anything to speed his climax – and looked up at Marik. He nearly came then and there, looking at Marik's expression of exultant ecstasy, beautiful and so sensual he wondered giddily why he hadn't seen it before.<br>"You're such a little slut, Pharaoh," Marik grinned, upping the pace yet again.  
>Usually Yami would never let anyone get away with calling him something so disrespectful, but once again he found himself hopelessly turned on by it, unable to explain his body's wild reaction to anything that had happened that night.<br>Marik laughed breathlessly, driving harder and deeper, plunging himself as far as he could into Yami's tight narrow passage and then some. "I've found my favourite sport," he sniggered. "Pharaoh-baiting." So saying he stroked his thumb along Yami's weeping slit and drank in the sound of Yami's tormented cries. Yami lost himself in sensation, hips rocking furiously in time with Marik's, craving a release from this hellish pleasure.  
>Marik breathed unsteadily, slamming monstrously hard and pumping at Yami's cock with an almost sadistic pace, jetting his hot load deep, deep into the former Pharaoh. Yami's body jerked, inner walls clamping and releasing spasmodically around Marik as he too came, his long-desired release finally granted.<br>They gasped for breath, dizzy.  
>When Yami had recovered, he looked into Marik's calm face directly above his own, feeling sickened to the core. He felt like he had betrayed all he stood for by enjoying that so thoroughly, ashamed of the satisfaction that melted his bones under Marik's gloating gaze.<br>"My Pharaoh," Marik said, and there was nothing affectionate in it. It was all possession and Yami sighed unevenly, the strength to argue eroded by the force of his pleasure. "You enjoyed that, I know you did." He waved a fluid-splattered hand in Yami's face and Yami blanched in mortification. "Just you wait, soon you'll want more. And more. And you won't be able to recognise yourself for the need."  
>"You are an evil, evil man," Yami panted, wishing his hands were free so he could push the man away, wishing his legs weren't traitorously locked around Marik's waist.<br>Marik leaned down so their noses just touched. "An evil, evil man who can give you more pleasure than you can dream of. Yes, Pharaoh," he smirked. "Even more."  
>The night dissolved into a haze of ecstasy as Marik took him every which way, Shadows at his command to torture Yami's limbs into painful contortions. Yami was lost and didn't look back to try and find the path back to light. It was too damn good.<br>Hours later, as the first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon, Marik surveyed his panting toy. If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was mess with people's heads. He leaned closer and slowly kissed the startled Yami, almost gentle as he massaged Yami's lips and tongue with his own. When he pulled back Yami was trembling in confusion. Marik grinned and with a wave of the Rod the Shadows melted before the sunlight, his clothes reappearing as if the Shadows had never eaten them. He withdrew from his position between Yami's legs and sat back, watching Yami carefully sit up and watch him, body tensed warily.  
>"You may go, Pharaoh," he murmured, not bothering to cover himself up. "But you know I'll be back for you. And you won't struggle a tiny bit, because you crave this now. You crave to surrender control to another, you crave the pleasure only I can give you. You are mine."<br>Yami tripped out the door, not looking back as he raced through the corridors back to Yugi's room. With the return to reality the pain and bruises Marik had inflicted on him had gone, and he was grateful for that; he didn't want to have to explain to Yugi why, when the body was given back to him, it was so damaged. He lay down in Yugi's bed and closed his eyes.  
><em>Little one<em>, he called, and Yugi's mind stirred. _It's almost morning.  
><em>Yugi took back control of the body and Yami gladly retreated into the Puzzle, not wanting to dwell on what had happened.  
>Not wanting to dwell on the fact he was looking forward to nightfall.<p>

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><p>...Have fun? Let me know~<p>

I don't know how long this fic is going to be but I've got more planned~ See you guys soon!


	2. Chapter 2

More~

Yet more smut and some bad language this time. ^^ Also I've fudged the time on the blimp slightly. Forgive me?

All characters (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

Locked in the Puzzle, Yami pulled at his hair in frustration, pacing restlessly.  
>He could think of nothing but the nights of pleasure Marik had given him, regularly dragging him out of bed once he was in control of Yugi's body and marching him away. Yami felt like an absolute cur for giving only token resistance. The second time Marik had come for him, he had tried to fight the stronger man off, tried to forget that he had loved the experience the previous night, but again to no avail. From then, for the past week or so as they travelled over the city and sea towards their new location, KaibaCorp Island, he had struggled maybe a little, just to keep up the pretence that Marik was forcing him, that he in no way <em>wanted<em> those nights of wild control and possession. It wasn't all about the responsibility, and his lack thereof. Marik had all his secrets carved into his back, and Yami longed with all his being to see them; he knew it amused Marik to take off his shirt while pinning Yami down, just to tease the former Pharaoh with the knowledge so close yet so far, because Marik would never, in any universe, let Yami have so much of a glimpse of his back. If he needed to turn away for a moment, he would flip Yami over so he could see nothing but bedclothes, denying him any chance at sneaking a look.  
>Yami slammed his fist against the golden wall, wishing he could push the memories away. It wasn't that they were bad memories; far from it. But he felt he had dirtied himself in wanting them, in enjoying them so much and looking forward to the next night with anxious anticipation.<br>Just why _did_ he enjoy them so much? He'd be lying if he said it had nothing to do with Marik's own appeal. The man was… there were no words to describe it. Evil, yes. Insane, certainly. But such simple definitions were altogether too sparse. They didn't define the way starlight glimmered on his bare muscles, his deep tan. They couldn't show the way his hair defied all logic – though Yami was one to talk – or the way his eyes glowed when he looked at Yami's exposed body. Such terms could never capture the raw strength and energy that was palpable in the air whenever he walked past, or the dark knowledge in his skilled movements, the way a subtle brush of his hand could make Yami's bones turn to water.  
>Yami pounded again at the wall, feeling his eyes throb with the need to spill tears that would never form in his spirit-eyes.<br>Godsdammit, he did not want these feelings! They made him feel weak and horrifically vulnerable before Marik's predatory ways. And yet he craved that loss of control. He wanted to be set free of the shackles of expectation; he needed to save the world, yet again, no pressure. He needed to help Yugi find his inner strength. He needed to save Malik from his darker half. He needed to rescue the souls Marik had plunged into the Shadows.  
>He needed to be seen as himself, as a person not a guardian spirit. He needed to discover what that actually meant. He needed his memories back. He needed someone to tell him what it was he had to do. He needed to surrender, give up, for just one time. He needed to be weak and looked after. He needed to be given a rest from this hell-bent pace of action. He needed… Gods, he needed Marik.<br>He looked bleakly around the walls and stairways of his soul room and wondered what time it was in the real world, and immediately cursed himself for it.  
>He heard Yugi calling through their soul link.<br>_Yami? I need your help.  
><em>_What's wrong?_ He asked, heading towards the door that separated their minds. _How can I help you?  
><em>_Marik's scaring me, please help…_Yami felt control of the body abruptly shift to him and he blinked in confusion until the rush of images and sensations settled down.  
>Night, in Yugi's room on the blimp. He was crouched on the bed and Marik was leaning on the doorframe, watching expectantly.<br>"What did you say to him?" Yami demanded, standing a little unsteadily. Marik had never given him space like this and he was determined to make the most of it.  
>Marik gave that low laugh that sent shivers down Yami's spine. "I didn't need to say anything, the little boy seems scared of ghouls that lurk in the night."<br>Yami scowled at him. "Well you've succeeded in getting me again. Why wait over there?"  
>"Eager tonight my Pharaoh? Though I have to tell you, I'm not in the least bit surprised."<br>Yami gritted his teeth. "It unnerves me that you're waiting."  
>"There is your answer then, little Pharaoh," Marik said smugly, looking Yami up and down. Yami abruptly felt the loss of his dignity as he realised he was wearing Yugi's pyjamas. He was instantly even less of a threat. He crossed his arms and looked away, though he kept watching Marik out of the corner of his eye. He had learnt early on not to take his eyes off Marik for an instant lest the man swoop on him.<br>They watched each other for a few minutes in silence, neither moving an inch, their eyes' movement the only sign that they were living and not statues.  
>"Why do you keep doing this?" Yami said eventually. "You've made your point several times already. Why come back?"<br>Marik smiled lazily, eyes still flickering over Yami in the starlight. "It's nice to have a pet. And a beautiful pet at that."  
>"Beautiful?" Yami muttered, clenching his jaw. "That's not how I'd usually describe myself."<br>"It suits you," Marik said quietly. Yami looked at him properly, surprised by the seriousness of the man's comment. His near-constant cruel laughter had built up an image of infinite insanity without reason, a raging fire that would not be still. Now, Yami could see the serious, contemplative side of Marik.  
>"Thank you?" He said uncertainly, shuffling his feet. The surrealistic tone of his situation made him almost break into hysterical laughter. Thanking his routine rapist (he would never admit to Marik being a lover) for a compliment? It was surely a mark of how low he had fallen in the past week.<br>"And I get so bored wandering around at night," Marik grinned, obviously messing with Yami's head.  
>"Piss off," Yami muttered, unable to stand Marik's U-turns of behaviour.<br>"No," Marik said, voice and bearing suddenly dangerous. Yami felt adrenaline start to pound through him, making it hard to catch his breath. Marik slowly walked towards him, menace oozing from him like the Shadows from his rapidly-hoisted Rod. They grabbed Yami and yanked him onto the bed, eating his clothing as usual. He struggled against them, just enough to convince himself he had tried, but they tightened, bringing him to kneel wide-legged on the bed, arms pinned behind him, body pressed forward and head back by the severity of the pose, exposing him thoroughly.  
>He watched wide-eyed as Marik surveyed him with a smirk, and teasingly stripped himself. Yami pushed away the guilt at his admiration of Marik's naked body; he was so well formed it seemed ridiculous. But there he was, glinting in the low light and crawling towards Yami on the bed. He looked anxiously over Marik's shoulders, hoping for a snatch of a hieroglyph, but Marik was far too careful to allow that, and Yami saw nothing. If you could count Marik as 'nothing'.<br>Marik stopped and knelt, mirroring Yami, just short of touching though he was so close the heat from his body bathed Yami in the chilly night air. He simply looked into Yami's eyes, expression devoid of anything but menacing desire. Yami felt it go right through his body to his groin, blushing furiously. He had stopped trying to pin down exactly what made him lust after Marik, he just accepted it now. He wondered what Marik was thinking.  
>His eyes travelled down Marik's body as Marik continued to drink in Yami's face. Marik's breathing was slightly faster than normal and he was all ready to go, making Yami's breath hitch. He didn't think Marik had ever been turned on by just the <em>sight<em> of him without touch before. He reflected what exactly that meant for tonight.  
>"We're going to play a game, Pharaoh," Marik said in a quiet, threatening voice that made Yami shiver in anticipation. "I know you're fond of those. It's called Full Mouth, Full Body."<br>Yami's eyes widened and he sucked in a gasp of breath, eyes darting nervously to Marik's crotch, lips parting of their own volition. Marik raised an eyebrow and laughed lazily.  
>"It's not what you think," he murmured, coming just a bit closer. "Although it is… pleasing… to see that thought on your face."<br>Heat flooded Yami's cheeks and groin simultaneously and he squirmed slightly against his Shadow-bonds.  
>"For this game, the equipment is simple," Marik continued, edging closer until Yami's thighs lay on top of his own, nose to nose. "You need a deck of cards, and a flustered Pharaoh. Here are the cards…" he produced his deck from his discarded trousers, placing them on Yami's knee. "…And here's the flustered Pharaoh." He stroked one fingertip down Yami's body from his lips to his crotch in one long, sensuous caress. A shudder passed through his entire body and he briefly closed his eyes. There was no pretending he wasn't enjoying this already.<br>Marik leaned in even closer so their lips brushed when he talked. "Open wide, Pharaoh," he whispered, and Yami nearly lost it at the sound of that smooth, dark voice and the sultry look in Marik's eyes. His lips parted and his eyelids drooped, looking like he wanted nothing more than to take _something_ in his mouth. It made Marik want to purr.  
>Yami felt a few cards touch his lips and he apprehensively held them in his mouth, wondering where this was going. Marik smirked and pushed Yami's knees up so his dick was just short of Yami's entrance. A few more cards and Marik pushed himself teasingly inside, a centimetre or two only. Yami gasped and dropped a few cards. Immediately Marik pulled out and made a tutting noise.<br>Yami winced, grasping the rules. The more cards he held, the more fully Marik would penetrate him. Full Mouth, Full Body indeed.  
>Marik's smirk grew and he held out a few cards. Yami nodded and tilted his head back so the cards he already held wouldn't fall out. As the cards slid into his mouth, so Marik slid into him. He closed his eyes at the slow, torturous penetration and heard Marik's breathing become laboured as he struggled to control himself. Yami's mouth was soon stretched from Marik's deck, and there was still so much further to go. He looked at Marik – so much closer now, almost eye to eye – pleadingly, hoping he saw the situation. Marik was just halfway inside him and Yami's jaw was aching, lips bleeding slightly from paper cuts.<br>"Ah, I see," Marik breathed, lips whispering against Yami's cheek. Yami nodded, hating how weak he was when Marik had him like this but at the same time wanting nothing more. "Can't you take any more, my dear Pharaoh?"  
>Yami shook his head, wanting to pull Marik inside himself but knew the other would not stand for it. Marik smiled slowly and stroked Yami's hair with an oddly gentle hand. "Spit them out then."<br>Yami obeyed, spitting them away from Marik and swallowing the saliva that had welled up in his mouth from it being open for so long. Marik frowned at the last and roughly kissed him, hands sliding forward to cover Yami's on the sheets behind him, pressing forwards. Yami melted into the kiss, letting Marik sweep through his mouth and restraining himself from responding; he was _not_ willing. Not at all.  
>"Hmm, what to do now," Marik murmured, refusing to push further into Yami. "I was looking forward to that game all day, and you've gone and disappointed me." He pouted mockingly and despite himself Yami leaned forward to press his lips against Marik's. He pulled back after a second, mortified at his loss of control. It just made Marik laugh though, and reward him by pushing in maybe two centimetres. Yami groaned and dropped his forehead onto Marik's shoulder, unable to bear this teasing. "Poor Pharaoh," Marik grinned. "I think we'll play a different game to carry on."<br>"What game?" Yami whispered, trembling from the ache of incompleteness and of how close their bodies were, crushed up in a tight embrace.  
>"Kiss me again and find out."<br>Yami looked into the other man's dark eyes, half-lidded with pleasure. Heat rushed through him again and he wondered idly why he couldn't seem to release from this unbearable tension without Marik coming first; maybe it was a mark of how thoroughly Marik controlled him. Marik raised an eyebrow.  
>"Do it, Pharaoh," he said, the edge in his voice making Yami melt further. He seemed to know instinctively what had to be said to make Yami his 'unwilling' slave. "Do it or I'll get nasty."<br>Immediately Yami locked his lips over Marik's. Marik had given him no choice, after all. He _had_ to kiss him. Marik let the former Pharaoh dominate the kiss, surprising Yami, opening his mouth when Yami's tongue brushed his lips. Yami wanted to make sure Marik had no cause to get nasty with him, that was the only reason he kissed Marik so hotly.  
>"Good little Pharaoh," Marik breathed, squeezing Yami's bound hands and pushing just a little further in. "You please me greatly."<br>Yami refrained from commenting, feeling the force of Marik's pleasure throb inside of him. He looked away, blushing, trying to deny he didn't crave the sensation.  
>"Well, you know what to do if you want more," Marik whispered into Yami's ear, watching his captive shiver helplessly. "And don't deny you want more, it's ridiculous to deny something so obvious," he continued, glancing pointedly at Yami's crotch.<br>"I hate you," Yami muttered in shame, though his heart wasn't in it.  
>Marik raised an eyebrow, not at all offended. "Anything in particular, Pharaoh? Don't be shy now. Speak your mind. Ra knows you won't shut up with your righteous spiel whenever you duel someone, don't go all coy on me now."<br>Yami straightened up, a glint in his eyes that Marik hadn't seen in all the times they had been like this. Marik unconsciously licked his lips as Yami's strength came through; he loved it when the Pharaoh got feisty.  
>"I hate how you reach for the Rod whenever you get into difficulty. I hate how you hide behind the Shadows and send innocents to them to be devoured. I hate that smug look on your face when you outsmart someone. I hate how you swagger around enjoying people's flinching. I hate that silly cape! I hate how you enjoy other people's suffering, like a sadist, and refuse to apologise. I hate how you manipulate those around you. I hate how you make me feel!"<br>Yami breathed hard, trying to get his anger under control. He knew he was in for it now but couldn't care, he had spoken his mind at last.  
>Marik's expression clouded over with deadly coldness. "Was that everything?"<br>"Um, yeah, that's all I could think of right now," Yami mumbled lamely.  
>"Feel better?"<br>"Some."  
>"Good. Because guess what, no fun for you now." Marik started pulling out, an ugly look on his face, but Yami cried out.<br>"No! Please, don't…"  
>Marik stopped, looking into Yami's eyes archly and tightening his grip on the other's hands, hard enough to make Yami bite his lip. "What? You expect me to reward you after that little tirade?"<br>"I won't say I'm sorry," Yami said, eyes blazing. "You asked for it. And it's the truth."  
>"Fighting back, Pharaoh? That's not like you."<br>Yami had nothing to say to that.  
>"Thing is, dear little Pharaoh, you may think all that and yet you still want me. Want me so bad it's actually hurting you, isn't it?" Marik said coolly.<br>"Yes, dammit," Yami whispered, avoiding Marik's gaze.  
>"And you're right, I <em>did<em> ask for it." He stroked the backs of Yami's hands, a smirk hovering on his lips. "So I won't punish you. Much." He pushed in slightly then back further out, teasing Yami mercilessly.  
>"Please," Yami moaned between gritted teeth.<br>"Please what? Finish your sentences, Pharaoh."  
>Yami strained against the Shadows, pressing up to Marik. "Please stop teasing me, it hurts…"<br>"Then I say again, you know what to do." Marik slowly rocked his hips, not pushing further in, but making Yami's head spin from the sensual movement and making him crave it more than ever.  
>The burning heat between Yami's legs from the teasing compelled him and he hungrily pushed his tongue into Marik's mouth, desperate for a release. Marik chuckled deep in his throat and gave Yami his reward, though naturally slowly and provocatively. He came to rest fully inside Yami, sunken to the hilt. Yami moaned lustily, inner muscles clamping hard around him.<br>"Yes," Yami whispered, eyes closed, lips reddened and parted hungrily. "Oh, _yes…_"  
>"Does that feel good, Pharaoh?" Marik asked mockingly, limbs shaking from the effort of self-control he had exercised that night in not screwing Yami into the bed several times already. Just resting inside the tight hotness of Yami's passage made him want to slam in and out of Yami's body, but he reigned in that impulse for now. He was having too much fun driving his pet wild to let it all get out of hand now.<br>"It feels so good," Yami whispered, head tilting back and thighs tightening around Marik's hips.  
>"Who's making you feel good, Pharaoh?" Marik thrust forward just a little bit, bending Yami back more.<br>"You are," he groaned, trembling all over from the desire racing through him.  
>"Who is?"<br>"_You_ are."  
>Marik thrust again, harder this time, lips pressed to the delicate skin under Yami's ear. He bit down. "Say my name, Pharaoh."<br>"Uh…"  
>"Say it!"<br>"_Marik!_ Oh gods, _Marik_…" Yami moaned, tossing his head and quivering in anticipation.  
>Marik laughed, the sound of Yami's need only making him harder. "I'll make you scream it in no time," he promised, breath hot and wet. He started a torturously slow rhythm, in and out, pinning Yami between his body and their hands behind the former Pharaoh; he was completely helpless and could only widen his legs as much as he could, hips aching, craving yet closer contact.<br>"You're mine, Pharaoh, body and soul," he snarled, upping the pace as his control over the wild lust coursing through him slipped just a little.  
>Yami whimpered and frantically bucked his hips to match the pace. At that sound it took every scrap of will Marik had not to lose it right then. "F-Faster…. <em>Please…"<br>_Marik obliged, mouthing viciously at Yami's shoulder. Yami cried out in his ear, body quivering and muscles twitching, seeking to pull Marik yet further inside himself. Harder and harder he thrust, the sound of flesh slamming into flesh accompanied by the moans escaping both their throats. The pace was frenetic, lust blazing through them, inflaming their skin, hot to the touch, and as crushed up against each other as they were, the heat was intense and only spurred them on.  
>"Say my name," Marik commanded again. He thrust up at that special angle that hit Yami's sweet spot and was rewarded with a throaty moan of joy.<br>"Marik!"  
>Harder, harder, driving forwards with a brutal force. Marik could barely breathe he was wound so tight, and hearing Yami's moans and cries of his name made him want to go even harder, drive deeper, press closer.<br>Marik's name issued in a constant stream of breathless groans from Yami's mouth, body thrusting in time with Marik's, rushing towards a heady, violent climax. Yami's whole body arched and surged up in Marik's arms, a pained shout ripped from his throat. Marik came with him, unable to hold on any longer. He sank his teeth into Yami's shoulder and pounded in once more, seed bursting out of him and deep, deep into Yami.  
>He turned his head slightly so Yami's lips were by his ear and grinned. Yami was whispering his name over and over as he panted for breath, probably unaware he was doing it. It was most pleasing.<br>They knelt there, gasping for breath with blood and semen staining the sheets under them, for a good while until they had come down from that high.  
>"Marik," Yami said quietly. "The Shadows are making my hands and feet numb."<br>"You shouldn't strain against them so much then," Marik grinned, but waved the Rod and banished them. "Behave now. Or I'll definitely have to get nasty."  
>"I'll… I'll behave," Yami whispered, flexing his fingers.<br>"Good Pharaoh," Marik purred, nuzzling his neck and hitching his conquest up around his waist securely. Yami gasped and to both their disbelief, his arousal started burning again.  
>"Oh that <em>is<em> flattering," Marik murmured, feeling answering desire stir in him as well. He untucked Yami's legs and turned him over onto his stomach. "And I know just how to have you next."  
>He pulled Yami's hips up and forced his legs wide. Yami groaned and clutched at the bedsheets, face buried in the pillows.<br>"You know what I want to hear, Pharaoh," Marik murmured, hands wandering as he ground against Yami's arse.  
>"Gods, <em>Marik…<em>"  
>Hours melted into a blurry haze, the night creeping slowly onwards. By the time the night was over, Yami felt like a shaky mess, and there was a wide smirk on Marik's face.<br>"Good Pharaoh," he said again, stroking Yami's hair. Yami shivered and closed his eyes, melting into the touch. "Though you'll have to work double-time to clean the sheets before little Yugi wakes up."  
>"Shit."<br>Marik just laughed.

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><p>Yup. Did you like that porn? C:<p>

I'm thinking that unless I have a major lapse in creativity, this will probably be five or so chapters. Material just keeps runnin' through my perverted little brain~


	3. Chapter 3

More~

Sorry about the delay but hotdaym this chapter was a real biatch to get right. I think I've rewritten it...four times now? And then I had no internet access over thr BH weekend so... sorry! But here it is. Much angsting up ahead OwO

Contains Clashshipping (no really?) , some smut and fluff, maybe some bad language.

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

Yugi sat down heavily on the bed, rubbing his temples.  
>"Yugi, are you alright?" Yami asked from his position by the window, light shining through his translucent body.<br>"I'm exhausted," Yugi muttered. "I know technically I wasn't conscious while we were trapped in Noa's digital world, but my head feels like it's going to explode…"  
>Yami put his arm around Yugi's shoulders comfortingly. "Then let me take over and you can sleep, little one."<br>"Are you sure?" Yugi asked anxiously. "You've been doing that a lot recently, aren't you tired?"  
>Yami forced a smile. "I told you before, I don't need much rest. And I just want to make sure you're getting your sleep; we'll have to be well-rested for when we finally get to Kaiba's island."<br>Yugi sighed and relinquished control. Yami stretched out his limbs and waited for the dizziness to settle. Then he set out purposefully, treading the familiar steps he had been pushed and dragged along so frequently. When he reached Marik's door he gritted his teeth. He was doing this because it was the right thing to do, not because he wanted to. He knocked.  
>A few moments later Marik opened the door and grinned when he saw who it was. "Well look what we have here. I've never had you come to me before – though that's a lie," he smirked. "You've come for me many times."<br>"That joke is getting really old," Yami muttered and stepped inside. He stood away from Marik but nowhere near the bed, folding his arms.  
>Marik raised an eyebrow. "Tired of playing cat and mouse, Pharaoh? Finally accepted the fact you need me?"<br>"I know what you did."  
>"Melodramatic and typically-hero as that makes you sound," Marik said after a minute, "You'll have to be a little more precise."<br>Yami smiled slightly. "I know you smashed the computer. I know you tried to save us."  
>"Nonsense," Marik scoffed. "I knew that in destroying the computer your minds would all be wiped, and I wouldn't have to go through the bother of duelling you."<br>Yami took a deep breath and sauntered over, putting his hands on Marik's chest. "We both know that's not why you tried to get us out of that digital world."  
>"I'll admit I missed having my way with you," Marik conceded with a grin, putting his hands on Yami's hips. "But that doesn't answer the question of why I haven't needed to drag you into my bed or force my way into yours tonight. Miss me in that digital world? Poor Pharaoh."<br>"I don't think anyone else realised what you tried to do," Yami said, ignoring his taunting because he knew it was more than a little true. "And you deserve to be thanked, for once."  
>"Oh?" Marik was smirking by now and pulled Yami down onto the bed. "How were you planning on thanking me?"<br>Yami straddled his hips and with trembling fingers started exploring Marik's chest, trailing down to the hem of his shirt. He leaned in close so his lips were right by Marik's ear. "You don't have to restrain me tonight," he whispered. "I'll please you."  
>"Then by all means," Marik chuckled, licking his lips, "Get to it."<br>Yami quickly pulled Marik's shirt over his head and wasted no time in bending to discover the exposed flesh with his mouth, shoving aside that snide little voice that said he'd wanted to have an excuse to do this for a while now. He kissed down the centre of Marik's chest, the hot skin firm and smooth. He could hear Marik's chuckles rumbling through his chest and feel his heart beating just a bit faster than normal. His hands trailed down after his mouth, stroking and caressing. Marik rested his hands on Yami's hips but otherwise did nothing. Yami hesitantly took Marik's nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking while his hand stroked the other.  
>Concerned he wasn't doing it right, Yami glanced up at Marik's face and grinned. He <em>was<em> doing it right, apparently. Marik was grinning from ear to ear, a strangely soft look in his eyes as he watched Yami. "Such a skilled little Pharaoh," Marik murmured. "Where in the world did you learn this, in little Yugi's body with a blank memory?"  
>Yami mumbled something about instinct and got back to work, swapping sides and supressing a blush. Marik's compliments – few and far between – made him feel fuzzy and disoriented. He wasn't sure if he liked the feeling.<br>"So why do I deserve this thanks?" Marik said lazily.  
>Yami smiled into Marik's chest; if there was one thing he had learnt about Marik, the man liked to have his ego stroked. "You tried saving us. You did a good thing."<br>Suddenly Yami was slammed on his back, Marik pinning him down with a murderous look on his face, crushing Yami's hands either side of his head. Yami felt real fear wash over him for the first time since he had met Marik.  
>"It was not," Marik snarled right into Yami's face, eyes mad, "A <em>good thing.<em> You hear me, Pharaoh?"  
>Yami set his jaw, fighting down the terror. "Then why did you do it?"<br>Marik's grip on his wrists tightened painfully but Yami held his gaze, daring him to answer. Marik looked away. When he answered, it was through clenched teeth. "I wasn't going to let some computer take my entertainment away."  
>Yami absorbed that. "There's more. Don't lie, I can read you almost as easily as a book."<br>Marik snarled again and refused to answer. Yami narrowed his eyes and scrutinised Marik's averted face. "Did you miss me, Marik?" He asked quietly, seriously.  
>"I missed getting an easy lay," Marik snarled, but Yami brushed that aside. He didn't really mean it, he was just trying to hide behind it. Yami was an expert at reading people – you had to be if you were King of Games – and Marik's normally formidable control was slipping.<br>"You smashed the computer to try and get me back," Yami mused to himself, gauging Marik's reaction. You _did_ miss me."  
>"You're deluding yourself, Pharaoh."<br>"No, you more than missed me… y-you… you somehow need me?"  
>Marik's eyes darted to Yami's for a moment then away, though he might as well have screamed his admission. Yami gaped. "Why would you need <em>me<em>?"  
>Marik grimaced and pressed Yami harder into the bed, bruises already blossoming around Yami's wrists, and pushed his face into Yami's so close his teeth grazed Yami's cheek when he spoke. "Because, <em>dear<em> Pharaoh, you are the damn reason for my whole fucking existence. Malik hates you, so I'm created. That's _it_. The sum purpose of my life, to make yours a misery."  
>"And with me gone," Yami said slowly, trying to control his pounding heart. It was rather terrifying to be told that by someone he had grown so close to. "You lost your purpose. And you wanted it back."<br>Marik let him go and stood with his back to him, staring grimly out of the window with his arms crossed defensively. Yami remained sprawled on the bed, mouth slightly open in shock.  
>"So the reason you keep coming back to me to do this," Yami mumbled, thinking out loud, "Is to affirm yourself, or something like that?"<br>"I was only created so Malik could be strong," Marik said, every muscle in his body tensed. "So he could give in to the darkness within him. So he could hate you without complication. Well guess what – that's all I am. A receptacle and vessel for his hatred of you. And it makes me feel like crap."  
>Yami stared up at the ceiling. "Y-You <em>need<em> me."  
>"Yes," Marik forced out. "Without you I am purposeless. Powerless. Useless."<br>"And you're the only person who really knows me, including myself," Yami replied softly.  
>Neither said a word for quite some time, lost in their thoughts. Eventually the notion that Marik had his back turned occurred to Yami. But he didn't look. He still wanted an excuse to keep coming to Marik's room late at night. He wasn't sure if he'd be strong enough without some sort of pretext. It was probably too dark to see the hieroglyphs anyway, and Marik would get mad if he tried to sneak a look. No sense in getting Marik mad for nothing, he told himself.<br>"So where does this leave us?" Yami wondered aloud, finally.  
>"I don't know what you mean," Marik muttered. Yami glanced over – definitely too dark to see anything – and slowly approached him, eyes on Marik's head not his back. He slipped his arms around Marik's waist and rested his cheek on his shoulder. Marik tensed up warily.<br>"You know what I mean," Yami murmured.  
>Marik pushed half-heartedly at Yami's arms. "I do <em>not<em> do niceness," he growled, though there was no real spite in it. Yami even thought he heard a hint of longing. "Just because we might need each other, that doesn't mean—"  
>"Don't be afraid," Yami murmured, feeling oddly confident and at ease with himself. This was nothing but the truth, and he couldn't hide from it any longer.<br>"I am not afraid of anything!" Marik declared, the response Yami had been hoping for.  
>They stayed like that for a little longer until Marik gradually relaxed into Yami's arms. The surreal quality of all this made Yami want to smile. To think he had found someone who needed him as much as he needed them. And it was his enemy, whom he must defeat, and soon. But all he wanted to do was hold and be held by the man who appeared so strong, yet was so lonely inside. Just like Yami.<br>"Did you look?" Marik mumbled.  
>Yami kissed his shoulder gently. "No. My secrets are yours to hold for now."<br>"Good." He turned and pushed Yami back to the bed. Yami understood without needing words; Marik couldn't deal with the weight of what had just happened yet, and sex was easy. It would take his mind off the issue. "Now where's the rest of that thank-you, hm?"  
>Yami smiled and started bashfully stripping while Marik watched. Soon he was completely naked and modestly covered himself, awaiting Marik's word.<br>"Get over here," Marik grinned, toying with his belt. Yami gladly obeyed and helped him strip. Within a few minutes Yami was straddling him again, legs splayed wide as Marik lay on his back, that mad grin back on his face.  
>"Thank you," Yami whispered, and lowered himself fully down, joyfully impaled. He let out a groan of mingled pain and pleasure, and Marik's hands quickly slipped down from his hips to cup his buttocks, pulling him down and squeezing teasingly. They rocked in a fast rhythm, breath coming short and in sounds of pleasure as they sped up, faster and faster, nearer to completion with every thrust. The heels of Yami's hands dug into Marik's shoulders and his buttocks were numb from Marik's large, strong hands pulling and clutching.<br>When they came, Yami lay down beside Marik, tired and boneless. To his surprise, Marik put his arm around the former Pharaoh's waist and held him close while they panted for breath. Yami enquiringly raised an eyebrow.  
>"I thought – you didn't – do nice," he said unsteadily, pillowing his cheek on Marik's chest.<br>"Just this once," Marik breathed, unable to quite meet Yami's eye. "Just this once."  
>They lay for the better part of an hour, and Yami hesitated to even think that they were cuddling, but that was the truth of it. As crazy and nonsensical as it seemed, he was cuddling with his nemesis and loving it. Marik's arms were tight around him, as if he didn't want the Pharaoh to vanish. For his part, Yami lightly stroked Marik's chest and clung just as tightly, letting him know he was needed.<br>They just seemed to click.  
>Marik rolled them over, smiling gently down at Yami. "We don't need to pretend, do we."<br>Yami smirked. "You'll have to be a little more precise."  
>"I don't need to pretend I enjoy this because it makes you uncomfortable."<br>"Frankly it doesn't anymore," Yami muttered, fighting a blush.  
>Marik grinned, then his expression softened. He stroked a hand gently down Yami's face. "And you don't have to pretend I need to force you or restrain you; all I have to do… is this," he whispered and bent to kiss Yami.<br>It wasn't like their previous kisses, all about dominance and submission, trying to prove a point. It was slow and heady, lips and tongues sliding past each other and relishing the sensation. Marik stroked Yami's hair, tugging just a little, and Yami falteringly slipped his arms around Marik's neck, losing himself in the kiss.  
>"No pretending," Yami whispered when they briefly broke away to breathe.<br>"None," Marik agreed, sealing Yami's lips with his own again.  
>There was no more sex that night, but they lay in each other's arms, a little bubble of fragile gentleness holding them safe. It was strange, like they had left all their animosity outside the door and inside, tangled in the bedsheets and each other's arms there were just the cores of who they were, and those cores unexpectedly, desperately needed each other.<br>Yami supposed that in a way it _did_ make sense; the Tombkeeper who rejected his duties and turned against the man he was supposed to wait for, and the man at long last arrived to complete the Tombkeeper, the only man who knew him in his entirety. It was by no means normal – a man long dead and somehow living on in his young friend and a being literally born of hatred and pain – but it was an absolute truth.  
>"What are we going to do?" Marik asked hours later, a troubled frown creasing his forehead. Yami looked up at him and absently smoothed his hand over the lines, watching Marik turn his head almost affectionately so Yami's hand stroked his cheek. Yami would never have expected that from Marik, but then again he had never expected the man to need another person, for <em>any<em> reason never mind for something this… intimate.  
>"What do you mean?" Yami felt dazed and befuddled by the events of the night. He rubbed his thumb along Marik's jaw. Marik gave him a pained look and put his hand over Yami's, stopping the distracting sensation.<br>"We should reach Kaiba's island tomorrow. And the Battle City finals will commence."  
>Yami looked away briefly, astounded that he had managed to forget about that. These times with Marik had seemed to push everything but the immediacy of skin on skin out of his mind.<br>"We don't know that we'll be duelling tomorrow," Yami said, avoiding the issue. "Kaiba hasn't announced what's going to happen yet, to determine the next duels."  
>Marik raised his eyebrows incredulously. "You mean you don't know about the specialised duel? And I thought Kaiba was on your side."<br>"Let's not talk of sides," Yami whispered, clinging to his unanticipated lover. Marik ran a hand through Yami's hair, expression solemn for once.  
>"It's going to happen, Pharaoh. And one of us is going to lose, in the end."<br>Yami's face twisted. "Do you still need to win? Can't you just – drop out?"  
>"It is who I am," Marik said, looking away. "I must win against you, Pharaoh. Even if I tried, I couldn't do it. I must possess Obelisk and Slifer, and they must be won as you well know. It is my destiny<br>to win the three God Cards and hold the Ultimate Power they possess. Only then will I be free of Malik and his weakness."  
>"And it has always been my destiny to stop you," Yami said quietly. "If I lose then you will steal the powers of my Puzzle."<br>"If I won," Marik said with sudden intensity, eyes bright as he searched Yami's face, "I would have your Puzzle, yes. We could be together."  
>Yami drew in a sharp breath. The idea was so damn tempting. To be like this forever with Marik… "But I still need a host body to manifest," Yami said in a strained voice. "And that host body would be yours. We could never be together like <em>this<em>, skin to skin." He caressed Marik's chest to prove his point and felt Marik's arms tighten around him, holding him closer. He continued gently, "You were never supposed to hold the power of my Puzzle, Marik. If you tried, it would corrupt you. It would destroy you. I – I can't let that happen."  
>"Yet if you win against me, you will destroy me anyway. You could destroy Malik too, for all we know. At least if I won, we could be together for a short time." There was naked longing in Marik's voice, and Yami briefly wondered how they had come to this; enemies who could no longer hide how much they wanted to be together. "Isn't a short time better than none at all?"<br>Yami pressed his forehead against Marik's shoulder, concealing the over-brightness of his eyes, how they shone with unshed tears. "You would be the doom of this world," he whispered. "With the Rod and the Puzzle _and_ the powers of the ShadowRealm… you would fall into darkness, and take this world and all its innocents with you. I can't remember what happened in Egypt, why I was sealed into the Puzzle, but I know there was a battle with a great evil. I don't know if I won. But I am this world's guardian against evildoing, and I have to try. I can't risk it, Marik. I can't, I just can't!"  
>"Then it truly will be a duel to the death," Marik said gravely, stroking Yami's hair and back. "After our final duel, one of us will be as good as dead and the fate of the world decided."<br>"There's still Kaiba and Joey. We might lose to them and the issue decided like that."  
>Marik gave a heartbreakingly sad smile, and though Yami couldn't see it for his face was buried into Marik's chest, he felt it against his neck, where Marik kissed him gently. "Come now, Pharaoh. You believe that as little as I do."<p>

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><p>Epic foreshadowing? Not really. *sigh* You know what's coming up. T^T I genuinely don't want to write the last two chapters. But chapter four will be up a lot quicker than this one was. Promise.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

More~

Clashshipping, angst.

I spent a hella lot of effort looking for direct quotes here. I'm oddly proud of them. Though I apologise if this seems a bit like a run-through of ep 128 onwards. *Sigh*

All characters (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

Joey was falling, falling down.  
>"Joey has five seconds to rise," Roland said dubiously, looking at his employer for guidance. Kaiba remained silent. Yugi and his friends exhorted Joey to get up, tried to rush onto the duelling platform to assist him, but Kaiba's men restrained them. "The duel is now over."<br>"My brother!" Serenity cried, hands to her mouth and tears in her eyes.  
>The holograms of the monsters dissipated and the Shadows retreated. Immediately Yugi's friends ran to their fallen classmate.<br>Yami stood stock still for a few moments, staring at Marik. Marik stared right back, and although he grinned from the victory, his eyes were serious and sad. _See, Pharaoh?_ They seemed to say. _This is who I am.  
><em>Tristan was cursing Marik, trying to get near enough to land a blow, but luckily Duke and Tea held onto him. Yami was grateful for this as he woodenly walked to stand beside his kneeling friends. He of all people knew how strong Marik was, and Tristan didn't deserve to get knocked out. He dimly heard Mokuba trying to persuade his brother to send for a medical team from the mainland, but Kaiba would not be moved. He insisted that the team he had on board the blimp was the best in the world. Naturally.  
>Serenity wept hysterically as she shook her brother's shoulders, valiantly but vainly trying to wake him from his apparent coma.<br>Yami understood what had happened, and he couldn't stop staring at Marik. Those damn ShadowGames. The pulse attached to Joey's life-force had connected him to his monsters, and when they lost life points, Joey lost life-energy. And he was on zero life-points, by the looks of it with just barely enough energy to keep breathing.  
>He wanted to get on his knees, hold Joey like Serenity was, demand that Marik reverse the effects, scream at Kaiba until that medical team got here, but all he could do was stare. He wasn't even sure of what he was feeling, be it guilt or horror or loathing or shame, and all he could do was <em>stare. <em>Like some sort of idiot.  
><em>And an idiot I am<em>, he thought grimly. _Marik, how could you? I thought I knew you. I thought you wouldn't do this, not after everything that's happened between us. _He hid his thoughts from Yugi, however, and said nothing as Yugi wept through their soul link.  
>Marik said something about being close to world domination, and Yami performed his part as his friends expected him to, though if anyone had cared to look at his face they would have seen Yami's inner turmoil. Only Marik, however, was looking. Of course. Marik was the only one who had ever really looked at Yami, and their faces wore the same expression. Kaiba gloatingly announced that he would beat Marik in the finals, and through his haze of shock Yami heard Marik defend him, pay him a compliment in typically-oblique fashion.<br>"Well, you have it all figured out. But perhaps you should focus on getting past the next round first."  
>Everything around him seemed abstract and dull, like he was numb, and although Marik's compliment made him feel momentarily better, his confusion returned quickly. Kaiba's team arrived and hauled Joey away on a stretcher, followed by his litter of friends.<br>Roland announced that Kaiba and Yami would duel next, and Yami persuaded Kaiba to give him time to see slowly walked down to the blimp, world in a haze. He knew he had to duel Kaiba soon, but he wanted to make sure Joey was alright first.  
>Throughout the entirety of Marik and Joey's duel, Yami had been so conflicted it hurt to watch. He didn't want Joey hurt, though in his heart he knew Joey had no choice but to lose. Until he had survived the Winged Dragon of Ra's attack and there had been the chance to defeat Marik, take the ultimate choice away from Yami, but Joey had collapsed before he could call Gearfried's attack. Yami had wanted to laugh in relief that Marik was still there, that they still had some previous time together, and yet weep that Joey was fallen and most likely taken by those infernal Shadows that Marik insisted on summoning in his duels. He had known, the previous night when he and Marik had held each other and promised not to pretend anymore, that it would be hard to watch Joey or Kaiba going up against Marik, but he hadn't realised just how difficult it would be to contain his inner struggle between wanting his lover to survive and wanting his friends to be safe.<br>He had executed his performance as expected, cheering Joey on in his moments – and there had been many – of weakness, but all the while he had been staring at Marik, hoping that this moment wasn't the last he would have to absorb Marik's features or hear his voice. He remembered thinking, _Gods, just a little more time, please,_ each time Joey had looked like he would best Marik, and praying for Joey's safety with every blow Marik struck against him, beating down his life-points.  
>Serenity and Tea huddled by Joey's bedside in the medical wing of the blimp while Yami, Tristan and Duke stood awkwardly. Yami stared fixedly at Joey's unmoving form, trying to tear himself into the present, trying to stop thinking about Marik while Serenity's sobs filled the room, accompanied by the baffled murmurings of the doctor.<br>Ishizu and Mokuba arrived and left, though Yami barely noticed. His emotions, kept under tight concealment lest his friends think him a traitor, swung between shock and rage at Joey's condition, and relief that Marik was still alive and wandering about. _Do the gods truly wish for me to be unhappy?_ He wondered, knowing it was selfish with Joey lying there, but unable to stop himself. _Is this some sort of punishment, giving me a lover who I must destroy? All I want is to be with Marik, but his actions prove I cannot let him continue to cause damage to my friends and to the world. What am I supposed to do? I can't bear this!  
><em>Yugi wept and knelt at Joey's bedside, translucent, visible only to Yami.  
>"I should have faced Marik!"<br>Yami could only weakly protest, engrossed in his own personal pain.  
>"I knew that duel was too dangerous, and I should have stopped it! Now it's too late. Marik is pure evil! First he got Mai, and then Bakura, and now this. It's not fair. Maybe we should stop fighting, it just seems to make things worse. I can't take it anymore!"<br>Yami tried to soothe his distraught young friend, speaking the empty words expected of him that tore at his heart like knives, briefly taking off the duel disk to rest his wrist, sore and cramped from carrying it for so long without respite. Taking it off at night helped, but when you wore it every day… and today had been a very long day. And he still had the duel with Kaiba to get through before he could lie down and rest… rest in Marik's arms—but no. He shouldn't want to see Marik at all after what he had done to Joey!  
>Yugi, of course, mistook his heightened emotions for rage over Joey's condition. He truly did not understand the spirit that lived within his Puzzle.<br>The vision from Ishizu's Millennium Necklace only made him more conflicted – if it was correct, and Joey woke up from his coma "after all that was done with", what did that mean for Marik? He tried not to feel the pain Yugi's seething thoughts caused him.  
>Through a dizzied haze of confusion and exhaustion, Yami duelled against Kaiba and won, though it was without a doubt his toughest victory yet, made bitter by the knowledge that in his next duel, he would face Marik. And he would have to decide what to do: protect his lover – who was changing for the better, Yami <em>knew<em> he was, if he could just have a little more time – or kill off that future, kill Marik, to save the world.  
>The decision would stretch him to his very limits, he knew that. Seeking some stillness in himself, later that night in the darkness of the witching hour, Yami made his way to Joey's bedside, obscurely comforted by the soft bleeps of the medical equipment and the steady rise and fall of Joey's chest. His mind drifted into wordless repose, floating away from the issues and worries that plagued him. He just watched Joey breathe with an vague kind of relief. Yugi did not ask for control of his body back and rested too, sleeping in his soul room. Ashamed as it made him feel, Yami was glad Yugi was asleep. Yugi's vengeful thoughts had been too strong to block out, and Yami had hated how coldly he had to react to them so as not to arouse suspicion. It was good not to have to think.<br>"So this is where you are, Pharaoh."  
>Yami didn't register the voice for a good few minutes. Slowly it pervaded his consciousness and he turned to see Marik, limned in moonlight and the gentle green glow of the equipment, leaning against the wall and watching Yami, expression grave and melancholy.<br>"Where else could I be?" Yami asked hoarsely, voice ragged from overuse that day.  
>Marik gave a tiny smile. "With me. In my arms, in my bed."<br>Yami scowled, pushing aside the longing those simple words had stirred in him. He gestured shakily to the supine Joey. "After what you did? Really?"  
>"Yes, really," Marik said softly, looking just a little hurt. "One way or another, this is our last night together, my Pharaoh. Do you really want to spend it beside little Joey, throwing insults like children, when we could be doing something much better?"<br>Yami looked away, shamed and too tired to want to think, to feel. But at that moment, his feelings were the most pressing things his mind could register. And they hurt. "I shouldn't go with you," Yami whispered, closing his eyes and turning back to Joey. "My friend is comatose because of you. Yet another one!"  
>Marik frowned, though of course Yami couldn't see it. "Come away, Pharaoh. You'll just make yourself upset."<br>Yami lurched up and tried to punch Marik in sudden unbearable anger, though being so exhausted he naturally missed. He stumbled and would have fallen, but Marik's strong arms caught and hauled him upright, cradled into Marik's chest.  
>"Careful, Pharaoh," Marik said softly, almost gently. "You'll hurt yourself."<br>For a few moments Yami was content to be held, getting his breath back and feeling his legs shake from sheer fatigue. To be held like this, so securely, so safely, was what he had been craving all day. But with Joey there as reminder of all the wrong Marik had done, it was impossible for Yami to be at ease for long.  
>He pushed away to stand on his own, though he braced a hand on the wall.<br>"I know you're angry," Marik said in a low voice, eyes steady on Yami's face, the picture of composure. "And I know you're upset, and tired. But do you _really_ want to spend our last night together full of bitterness and regret?"  
>Yami shook his head, utterly defeated.<br>"Well then. Are you coming?" Marik gestured to the general direction of Yami's room, the closest to the medical wing. Yami hesitated, looking back at Joey.  
>"If Joey remembers any of this when he wakes up, I am so screwed," Yami mumbled and set off after Marik, trailing one hand on the wall for balance. He moved in a fugue of weariness, barely aware of anything but Marik beside him and the route they took. He couldn't remember the exact moment Marik's supporting arm came around his waist, or when he ceased to walk and was more carried, legs dragging on the floor and head bobbing as he threatened to sleep where he stood.<br>He only became aware again when Marik sat himself down on Yami's bed, cradling Yami on his lap and stroking his blonde fringe out of his eyes. He blinked drowsily up at Marik, resigned and defeated.  
>"Why did you have to use the Shadows, Marik?" He mumbled, one hand unsteadily rising to cup Marik's cheek. "Why was it <em>necessary<em>?"  
>Marik kept stroking and didn't answer for a long time. "It is how I exist, how I duel," he said eventually, his rhythmic stroking almost sending Yami to sleep it was so soothing. "I know of no other way."<br>Yami melted into his touch, eyelids drooping as he dozed for a few moments. He was exhausted from the day's events. First of all had been the Four-Way Duel, the first of its kind Yami had ever done. He had duelled against multiple opponents, of course, but usually as a team member. Like with – with Joey, against Para and Dox during Duellist Kingdom. Or with Kaiba against Malik's Rare Hunters. But never before had he needed to duel three other people simultaneously, one his friend and the other his secret lover. The sheer amount of mental agility needed to battle three others, keeping all their possible strategies in mind, all their possible moves and what they had in their hand, Graveyard and deck, on top of the emotional strain of concealing how he really felt, had been almost too much to bear. Never mind his natural urges to protect Joey and take Marik's hits himself. It had been exhausting on its own, with the added worry that Joey would then duel Marik.  
>Then during Joey and Marik's duel… he thought he might have lost weight just from the heart-breaking stress of watching them, unsure who he wanted to win, knowing what was at stake.<br>And his duel with Kaiba… each time he faced Kaiba his victory got narrower and narrower, his lead shorter, his strategies less effective. Kaiba was a ruthless opponent who, if he saw an opportunity, would take it with both hands and strike while his challenger was stunned. Although Yami was still reeling from Joey's condition, Kaiba had been merciless, giving no quarter and accepting no excuse. Yami's distracted mind had been stretched to its utmost to beat him.  
>Belatedly Yami realised he hadn't had anything to eat or drink for hours, all day in fact. That would probably account for at least some of his lethargy.<br>He dimly felt Marik's hand cup the back of his neck and turn his head to rest on Marik's shoulder, his hand still stroking Yami's forehead. Yami let him, too weak and overcome with anguished desire to protest. He wanted this, so badly… His arms looped themselves around Marik's neck and he fell asleep, dreaming of a time where he and Marik were together without consequence, where his friends were safe, where the sun was hot and the wind dry, ghosting half-recalled smells of ancient Egypt over his dreams.  
>He awoke when he was gently placed down on the bed, alone. He raised his head and blinked in confusion; what was happening? Why was Marik leaving?<br>But he was soon reassured; Marik had gone into his bathroom and from the sound of it was using the toilet.  
>For some reason it amused Yami that Marik, a being born of hate and pain brought to flesh by accident, had to answer the call of nature like anyone else. He smiled and sat up properly, a little refreshed from his – for want of a better word, though he winced inwardly – nap. He looked at the bedside clock and saw that precious hours had been wasted with him asleep. They had so little time left together.<br>Yami determinedly rubbed the gummy tiredness from his eyes and silently stripped himself. He laid his clothes in a neat pile on the floor and sat waiting, breath coming just a little bit faster. When Marik emerged, Yami couldn't see his face for the light at his back, but he heard Marik's startled laugh.  
>"I see you've woken up, Pharaoh," he chuckled, coming closer to sit next to Yami on the bed, one arm siding around Yami's narrow hips.<br>"I'm sorry for wasting our time dreaming," Yami mumbled, leaning closer with one hand splayed on Marik's chest.  
>"You were tired," Marik said generously, pulling Yami closer. "I still got to have you in my arms, in any case."<br>"Have me in your arms again," Yami whispered, a blush glowing across his cheeks. No pretending. "Have me one last time."  
>"Yes, my Pharaoh," Marik whispered back, an acknowledgement of command that made the already-dizzy Yami breathless as Marik leaned in to kiss him slowly, tenderly.<br>Marik's clothes dropped away from him under both their efforts and Yami lay back, pulling Marik over him and spreading his legs wide, hooking his feet around Marik's waist. Marik murmured sweet things in his ear as he slowly, carefully, pushed into Yami, arms tight around him.  
>As they rocked in a unhurried rhythm, relishing each blissful moment of contact, their hands and mouths explored each other for what they knew was the very last time. Marik kissed Yami's neck while Yami ran his hands down Marik's back, not to try and decipher the hieroglyphs like he had yearned to do before but to feel Marik's warm body against his palms. They breathed each other's names and little guttural sounds of pleasure and desire into the heavy air. Marik rained soft, tender kisses on every centimetre of Yami's skin he could reach and Yami clung to him tightly, hands wandering with feather-light touches that made Marik want him even more while his inner muscles tried to take Marik yet further into himself.<br>The pent-up desire and bittersweet longing built and built, bringing them closer to climax with each movement of their hands and hips. As Yami's breath grew ragged and little moans of lust escaped his throat, Marik smiled and wrapped his fingers around Yami's length, squeezing gently even as he thrust. Yami's back arched and he bucked against the contact, craving more.  
>"Marik," he moaned, gritting his teeth.<br>"I know," Marik said soothingly, stroking gently and hitting the sweet spot deep inside Yami, firmly telling himself not to let go too soon. "I know, Pharaoh, you can't take it much longer. Shh, you'll get your release soon…"  
>Yami groaned, hands fisting in Marik's hair and head dropping into the crook between Marik's shoulder and neck, breath hot and wet on his skin. Marik stroked his fingertip along Yami's slit and he gasped, the pressure building unbearably. Marik suddenly kissed him hard, tongue plunging between Yami's lips as he came, his hot seed jetting deep into Yami's body. Yami kissed him back just as passionately, every muscle in his body contracting as he too released.<br>For a few seconds they merely trembled and held each other while sweat dried on their skin. But soon they were kissing again, hands moving to cup and caress each other's flesh, trying to get the most out of every last second they had together, for dawn was racing up on them and their time was running out.  
>They were laying in a tight embrace when dawn's first rays broke through the window and struck their naked skin. Both took a moment to admire the other in solemn appreciation.<br>"It's time, Pharaoh," Marik said softly, holding him tightly.  
>"No," Yami whispered in a broken voice, frantically stroking his hands over Marik's face, looking into his eyes.<br>"I don't want this to end either," Marik sighed, hands warm on Yami's back and hip. _But it must_. The unspoken words were loud in the room.  
>Marik reluctantly got up, cupping Yami's chin in one hand and smilingly gently down at him. "Pharaoh, this time we've had together… it's been the best of my existence."<br>Yami choked back a sob and nodded, knowing Marik knew what he wanted to say back. He rubbed his cheek against Marik's hand, rising up slightly on his knees to get closer.  
>Marik sighed absently as he watched Yami's body bathed in the pale dawn light, bedsheets falling down around his knees. "My dear Pharaoh."<br>"What if we didn't duel?" Yami said, grabbing Marik's hand. "What if we – if we – if we ran away, didn't duel against each other ever, would that stop the decision? Would it delay it indefinitely?"  
>Marik gave a sad smile. "That's not how destiny works, my Pharaoh, and you know it. But I wish that it were otherwise with all my being."<br>Yami kissed his palm, looking up at him with those wide, sad eyes. "I don't want to lose you," he whispered.  
>Marik bent and hugged Yami hard, burying his face into Yami's shoulder. Yami hugged him back just as tightly, arms wound around his waist as if he would never let go. His body trembled and Marik tried to soothe him, stroking his back reassuringly and murmuring fondly into his ear.<br>"You complete me," Yami mumbled in a heartbroken voice.  
>"And you fulfil me," Marik returned, stroking his hand through Yami's strange hair one last time before pulling away to dress himself. Yami watched, nude and despondent, from the bed, eyes wide as he drank in the sight of Marik in his bare magnificence, covered up after all too soon. Marik paused at the door and looked back.<br>Yami opened his mouth to say something, something so small and yet so huge, three little words that shimmered in his eyes. Marik was at the bed in a single stride, his thumb gently closing Yami's lips, forestalling the words that were on his tongue.  
>"Don't say it," Marik said brokenly. "I don't want to hear it hours before one of our deaths. That would be too cruel."<br>"B-But you feel the same, don't you?"  
>"Yes," Marik whispered, eyes tortured as he drank in Yami's face. Yami's lip trembled and Marik couldn't stand it any longer; he cupped Yami's face in his hands and kissed him for the very, very last time.<br>It was sad from the knowledge that soon one would be as good as dead, and a lament that they had had so little time to discover each other. It was filled with _if only_s and regrets that they had let their precious time together melt away until it was almost too late. But it was also joyful. They had found each other, found excitement and lust and sweet longing, found acceptance and completion with each other. It didn't matter that Marik had done unspeakable things; all they wanted was to be with the other, the one person who understood them better than they could themselves.  
>Bittersweet. That is the word for their final kiss.<br>Tears ran down Yami's face and Marik ever so tenderly wiped them away, kissing his fingertips with his eyes boring into Yami's.  
>"Goodbye, my Pharaoh."<br>"Goodbye, my Tombkeeper."  
>Marik turned away and closed the door behind himself, leaving Yami to weep alone in the dawn light.<p>

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><p>...I probably shouldn't be this emotional about something I've written but screw it I honestly don't want to write the next chapter. 'Cause we all know what happens in that duel *sobs* But I'll man up and write it. Then afterwards I'll do something cracky and silly to lighten myself up.<p>

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go distract myself with fluffy yaoi. TwT


	5. Chapter 5

~This is the end, the end my friend~ I'll stop being melodramatic now, shall I?

Urrrrk I messed up on the timeline with Joey's coma again, but I hope you'll forgive me? Maybe the overload of angst will make up for it?

I borrowed a lot of dialogue from the anime dubs, so if that annoys you, well... sorry. But I wanted to keep this chapter as close to canon as possible to really show the Clashshipping. Okay? Onwards, then.

Contains Clashshipping and a helluva lot of angst. Did you expect anything else? :)

All characters (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

Joey was awake again, miraculously. When Yami heard the news his first thought, shamefully, was whether Joey had been aware of his and Marik's conversation by his bedside scant hours before. Apparently he had been on the verge of waking through Yami's duel with Kaiba, but had been too weak to awaken for long. With morning, however, he had been strong enough to get up and walk around.  
>Yugi was overjoyed, naturally, but Yami was too preoccupied to feel more than a vague relief that Joey was alright if a little woozy. He hadn't been able to sleep in the few hours since Marik had left his room, and had lain in the bedsheets that smelled of sex and that spicy scent of Marik's skin than Yami knew lay over his body like a cologne. He had lain there trying to stifle his tears and get into the right frame of mind for when Yugi woke up; he knew that in his current emotional state his ability to hide his inner feelings from Yugi was weaker than normal, and he didn't want to accidentally reveal his feelings for Marik, and their history together. It would destroy Yugi to find out. Heck, it was destroying Yami, knowing that today would be the last day he ever saw Marik, and that by the end of the duel one of them would be dead.<br>He wanted to kill Marik just as much as he wanted to die himself. It was an impossible choice, for all he really wanted was to be able to walk away, for one time in his life, and do what _he_ wanted to do. He wanted to be with Marik, without having to hide it from Yugi and his friends, without having to worry about the consequences for the rest of the world. He wanted to be selfish. He wanted to be _happy.  
><em>But it was time to duel.  
>Yugi talked at him about possible strategies they could use, and Yami commented when he could as they walked to the top of the tower to face Marik.<br>Marik was already waiting, arms crossed and cape and hair ruffled by the wind. Yami forced his expression into neutral to cover up the riot of emotions that ran through him as he walked slowly opposite Marik on the duelling platform. Marik watched him the whole way, eyes shadowed and sad, travelling up and down his body as if to memorise it. Yami felt himself doing the same and forced himself to stop. This was going to be painful enough.  
>On receiving Kaiba's unexpected gift, Yugi was suspicious and Yami knew he should be too – why would Kaiba help him? – but of course he was too conflicted to really care as he knew he should. If Kaiba's card could help them defeat Marik, Yami wasn't sure he wanted to use it at all.<br>"Duellists prepare your cards!" Roland said, one arm in the air like a sports referee.  
>"Pharaoh!" Marik called, eyes locked on Yami's, "I have been waiting for this moment my entire life! Soon your infinite power will be mine!"<br>"Marik!" Yami called back, trying to forget how they had called each other's names just a few hours ago, voices quiet and soft with desire and affection. "Not only will I defeat you, I will free you from the darkness that controls you."  
>Marik laughed, knowing Yami knew he was laughing at the idea Yami actually <em>wanted<em> to free him from the darkness that had given him such joy. "Now that I'd like to see, so come and get me!" He stuck his tongue out madly and Yami forced himself not to smile as adrenaline started to pump through him. Just as Yami was covering up his real feelings by pretending to be angry and righteous, Marik was covering up his breaking heart with his customary insanity and indifference. Yami shifted his weight from one hip to the other at the sad desire that command instilled in him.  
>His friends, of course, saw only the insanity and cruelty, as if Marik were some being with only hatred in him. Yami gritted his teeth at their urgings to take him down.<br>"Duellists, please cut and shuffle your opponents' deck!" Roland ordered.  
>They stood only a foot away from each other, handling each other's cards with grace. Yami couldn't meet Marik's heavy gaze, knowing he was thinking back as well to the night they had played a game with each other, Full Mouth Full Body. Indeed, Yami bit his lips as he recognized those cards he had had in his mouth by the faint markings at one end, made by his teeth. Marik was careful with his deck, making an effort only Yami could see not to bend the cards as he handled them. It was a mark of respect that made Yami's hands tremble as he shuffled.<br>"Shuffle well, Pharaoh, and hope with all of your soul that Ra ends up on the bottom." Marik said, forcing Yami to look up, and into his eyes. Yami had nothing to say to that, seeing the message in Marik's gaze rather than hearing the words coming from his mouth. Marik was also hoping Ra ended up on the bottom; he didn't want to destroy Yami, just as Yami didn't want to destroy him. If they could delay summoning their Gods Cards, which must surely end the battle, then maybe they could figure out a way to get out of all this, to avoid the final decision.  
>Yami ignored Kaiba and Ishizu's argument about destiny and simply looked into Marik's eyes, treasuring this moment of peace before their battle, as their hands moved in identical patterns to shuffle the decks. That made Yami want to smile more than ever; their hands moving in time, almost caressing the cards they handled. It shouldn't be a sensual thing, handling another player's deck, but for them it was. It was as if they had shared everything now; their decks as well as their bodies and hearts and minds. Marik gave him a miniscule smile that only someone as used to Marik's expressions as Yami was would have recognised as such. He was thinking the same thing.<br>"Here's your deck, Pharaoh," Marik said, placing it in Yami's hand. Yami wanted to grip his fingers but forced himself not to, and return Marik's deck. For a moment they almost held hands, but had to pull away lest the others realise there was a lot less anger between the two than there should be. Their fingers brushed minutely together, a kind of farewell. "It is time for the Shadows to consume your soul."  
>"Marik," Yami forced himself to say as he placed his deck in the duel-disk, "Destiny is on <em>my<em> side today. The whole world is counting on me!"  
>"Your foolish confidence shows me you have no comprehension of the true horror that awaits you in this duel." Marik laughed almost maniacally, a kind of hysterical sound that revealed to Yami just as deeply Marik wanted to avoid this as Yami did. They both knew the true horror of which Marik spoke would be the choice both of them faced: their lover, or their destiny?<br>"Duellists, take your places!" Roland said, and they moved woodenly apart to stand at opposite sides of the platform once again. Yami knew they would never stand that close to each other after this duel. Not in this life, anyway.  
>"Commence duelling!"<br>"Let the fun begin now!" Marik cried, and immediately raised the Millennium Rod above his head, Shadows streaming forth. Yami couldn't hold back a snarl of frustration; _why_ did Marik have to use the Shadows all the time? With that move he had heightened the stakes even further – not only did they duel for their lives, they duelled for their very souls. Never mind the fate of the world.  
><em>I would rather be destroyed than face this,<em> Yami thought wildly, and a second later prayed Yugi hadn't heard him.  
>He read his answer in Marik's eyes; this way, there would be no dodging the issue. It would force one of them to make the decision they knew they must take; to kill the other, in the end. Marik saw it as an act of – could it be? – of kindness, knowing that if it came to pass that he was at Yami's mercy, Yami would not be able to do it. In forcing the Shadows into the game like this, he had removed that option. It wouldn't be Yami's fault if Marik died, because Marik had forced him to do it. He was trying to comfort his Pharaoh.<br>It was a ghastly echo of the start of their relationship. Yami had no responsibility, for Marik was controlling the outcome. One of them must die.  
>Marik took it even further, however. He brought the confused Mai briefly onto the field with his Rod, reminding Yami yet again of why they had to do this, why it was necessary. He was trying to steel Yami's resolve. He didn't want Yami to feel he was to blame, if he should have to kill Marik.<br>Yami swallowed imperceptibly, holding back tears at Marik's attempts. It seemed Marik wanted to give him these last gifts – upon his death. Marik was planning for the worst, as if he wanted Yami to have to kill him.  
><em>I don't want this, <em>his face seemed to say. _I don't want to have to win. I don't want to lose you, so if you come close to winning, think of what I've done. It will make it easier on you, my Pharaoh.  
><em>"I'm afraid that's not the worst," Marik continued, hunched over slightly as if in pain. In response to Yami's query, he said, "I told you, I have many surprises in store for you. Are you ready? Meet my next victim!"  
>Yami felt a wrenching in his soul at the flash of Marik's Rod, and Yugi appeared, bound in Shadows, beside Yami. Yami stared, hands shaking as Marik's tormented laughter rolled over him.<br>"Yugi!" He cried brokenly. Yugi looked down at Yami anxiously, begging him to win without needing words.  
><em>Yet another incentive<em>, Yami thought bitterly. Now he really would have no choice. But the traitorous thought crept in: if he let Marik win, and destroy his little partner, he would also be destroyed. He wouldn't have to deal with this… He was horrified. How could he think of purposefully letting Yugi die? His emotions were almost out of his control, and they hadn't even started duelling yet!  
>"Do you understand what's at stake now? Lose the duel and Yugi goes to the ShadowRealm!" Marik cackled.<br>"Marik, this is about you and me, so leave _him_ alone!" Yami yelled, unable to keep a lid on his emotions, releasing them as anger. He knew Marik knew what he really felt.  
>"That's not true, you're forgetting my weaker half," Marik replied, jabbing a thumb at the similarly bound Malik beside him. "He's involved in this conflict as well, so if I lose the Shadows will take him!"<br>"No! You can't!"  
>"I just did. The Shadows will take an innocent soul no matter who wins! Now let's duel!"<br>Yami had no time to think as Marik's quickly-summoned Vampiric Leech attacked him, making him flinch before the hologram. Yugi screamed in agony, the Shadows eating through his knee.  
>"When you lose Life Points, your friend will lose a part of himself to the darkness," Marik said grimly.<br>"That's madness."  
>"That's ingenious!" Marik corrected.<br>"I won't duel!" Yami said, the words he had longed to say finally given an excuse.  
>"You – have – to!" Yugi gasped.<br>"He's right, Pharaoh," Marik said soberly. "You _must _duel. I'm in control of this ShadowGame." He stuck his tongue out again, only making Yami more anxious. More than ever he wanted to be able to walk away, but Marik, knowing the indecision in his Pharaoh's heart, had forced him once again to duel to the final conclusion. There was no choice.  
>They tossed meaningless words of revenge and retribution back and forth, eyes never leaving each other.<br>Yugi, unsurprisingly, yelled his support of Yami and his conviction that they would win as a team and defeat Marik.  
>"Yes," Yami said unsteadily, meeting the fervent gaze of his friend. "The future of so many depends on our victory. We can't let them down."<br>_This is the most important duel we've ever fought. If Marik were to prevail, he would gain all three Egyptian God Cards, along with the key to infinite power. And four innocent souls would be forever lost to the darkness. I am now certain the reason Yugi and I were brought together was so we could win this one duel_. But then why did he hurt so much at the thought of winning? If his destiny were to win, as it seemed, he would lose everything. The world, his Puzzle, all those innocent people… and his life. He would again be a wandering spirit. But – if he were nought but spirit once again, would Marik be able to capture him again? Could they be together?  
>He shook his head and forced those thoughts away. This must be. He must try to win, for the sake of his friends and for the sake of the world. He had never put his own wishes before the wellbeing of others – as far as he knew – and despite his feelings for Marik, he must not break his principles now. Even if that was like ice in his veins.<br>He looked back to Marik, who gave him another near-invisible smile. They were finally ready to duel, no matter how much it might hurt them in the end.  
>They duelled with all of their will focussed on each other, their possible strategies and the best way to disarm them. They knew that anything less would be a betrayal of their duel, and even though they faced each other as opponents, this would be the last time they would get to see and speak with each other. Neither wanted it to be a half-hearted attempt. As such avid duellists, nothing but the very best of their skills would be a fitting end.<br>Their hearts pounded and adrenaline raced through them in a constant dizzying rush, sharpening their focus and enhancing their technique. Yami dimly felt a vague sort of arousal as they fought with each other, and a single glance let him know Marik felt the same. This was competition with the very highest stakes, and neither had ever been one to dislike that, no matter the consequences. Yami had always duelled with stakes, finding it was the best way to improve his skills. And Marik… Marik duelled for stakes because that was who he was. If he didn't have something to fight for, it just wasn't worth it.  
>Yami used Exchange, much to Marik's outward irritation, though he knew Marik was pleased Yami had pulled off the move, anticipating his use of Left Arm Offering to draw Monster Reborn. It was this kind of high-skills duelling that was a tribute to each other's talent, and of their real feelings for each other.<br>"Take it," Marik grinned.  
>"With pleasure," Yami returned, eyes bright as he accepted the card, transported for a moment back into memory, to their secret nights together when Marik had said much the same thing whenever Yami complained of pain or of being denied his release. Marik laughed darkly, obviously thinking the same thing.<br>Leading each other into traps and deftly avoiding them – or not, much to Malik's and Yugi's dismay – they duelled with all their strength. Avoiding the quick finish, for they wanted just a little more time with each other, they went for complicated ploys and feints, sometimes working, sometimes not. Taunts and fiery responses sizzled in the air between them as their gazes locked, broken only by the monsters or if Yugi demanded some of Yami's attention with every Life Point lost.  
>Yami played Fiend's Sanctuary, the card given to him by Kaiba. With Marik's sacrifice to Ra, he had only one Life Point left. When Ra attacked the token summoned by Fiend's Sanctuary, Marik would be destroyed. Although it wrenched Yami to do it, he had summoned it. He didn't want to win – summoning it had almost torn him apart – but he couldn't lose either. Bakura's, Mai's, Yugi's and Malik's souls were all at stake, and the world depended on him. He knew Marik understood how he loathed to do it, and that he was glad his conditions in this ShadowGame had forced Yami's resolve.<br>But Marik was still standing!  
>Yami couldn't push away the relief that washed through him; he had half-hoped Marik would have a strategy up his sleeve to avoid it. They had just a little more time.<br>"How did you survive?"  
>"It was the De-Fusion card I took from your deck, Pharaoh," Marik grinned. The irony was not lost on Yami.<br>"Well, just as I suspected," Kaiba said, just loudly enough for Yami to hear him. "Yugi wasn't able to successfully use the card I gave him to defeat Marik."  
>Yami didn't appreciate the slur and did his best to ignore it; Kaiba was ever the doubtful type. Even now, when there were clearly two Yugis on the playing field, he refused to acknowledge Yami's existence. Yami saw Marik glance over to Kaiba with anger in his eyes – it seemed he didn't appreciate the slur either. For a moment Yami wanted to smile at how possessive Marik could get.<br>"Odion, help," Malik mumbled, barely audible, the first words he had spoken throughout the duel. He was ignored.  
>As a little more of Yugi was eaten, the price for keeping the token on the field, Yami felt guilt rise in him at Yugi's trust. Yugi plainly thought Yami would never even consider losing. He just didn't know Yami well enough to even sense that Yami's emotions were wildly out of control, almost giving his true feelings away. Yugi probably thought the mixed emotions he sensed from Yami were from not wanting to destroy Malik, when really he was resisting destroying the more 'evil' half, Marik.<br>Marik spun across the playing platform from the sheer force of Obelisk the Tormentor's blow, cards flying from his hand as he came to rest on his side, leaning on the platform edge. Yami almost asked if he were alright but stopped himself, knowing it would reveal for sure how little he wanted to win. And if Yugi and the others ever found out about what he and Marik really thought about each other… the former Pharaoh didn't know if he could deal with their censure. He doubted even Yugi would understand, never mind accept it.  
>Yami had to admit, in the deepest corner of his mind, that seeing Marik off-balance like this was incredible. He had only seen him like this once before, when he had managed to make Marik admit he needed Yami. When he had been so vulnerable-looking, turning his back to Yami for the first time, the night they had returned from Noa's digital world. Just like then, Yami wanted to hold him close, but he couldn't. He couldn't. And Yami's friends wondered why he wasn't smiling as he watched Marik get to his feet.<br>"Please, be careful!" Yugi begged Yami as Malik became less of himself, his body food to the Shadows. "We have to protect Marik's good side. We promised Ishizu he'd be saved!"  
>"I know," Yami said darkly, shame creeping over him. He had been so absorbed in his fight with Marik he had completely forgotten that Malik's soul was in the balance too. If he defeated Marik, he'd not only lose his lover, he'd lose Malik too. And while Malik was no innocent, he had given Ishizu his word. He was an honourable man, even if he had fallen low in his time. "But if his evil side prevails, the whole world will be destroyed."<br>"There's _got_ to be a way to save the good Marik _and_ the world, and get rid of his evil side for good! We just have to figure out how! Come on, don't you think there's a reason we've made it this far? It's because we're destined to stop this madness!"  
>"Yes," Yami nodded, trying not to feel the pain that Yugi's words had caused him.<br>The duel continued, and the pressure only mounted with each one of Yami's attacks deflected, and every hit he took in return. Or, more accurately, every hit _Yugi_ took.  
>When Malik took over Téa's voice to urge Yami to win at all costs, Yami felt his final avenue of escape close. With Malik's consent to his death given, there was really no choice. If he had the chance, he <em>had<em> to defeat – and kill – Marik, though he knew it would destroy him just as effectively as if Marik won.  
>Unbeknownst to either of them, however, Odion was waking up.<br>Just when Yami thought he had done it, committed the act that would haunt him all the rest of his life, with Obelisk at infinite Life Points and Marik's defences breached, the attack failed. Yami wanted to rage at Marik for prolonging this and weep with relief that he hadn't managed to kill this man who had become so dear to him, despite all he had done. But Marik had used Class System, to Yami's mingled dismay and joy.  
>They duelled on, sweat dripping down their faces as they strove to beat each other, though they wanted nothing less. Destiny compelled them, and the fate of mankind. So much was riding on this, it was difficult to say where duty ended and emotion began. All they knew was that they couldn't stand this opposition when they had shared so much with each other. Only Marik knew what Yami needed, and only Yami could give Marik any purpose. And though Marik may not have wanted to hear it, or admit it in himself, they cared for each other. Despite Marik's repeated claims of wanting to see Yami suffer, they both knew the words were hollow. Despite Yami's words of necessity and destiny, they knew that wasn't what he was really thinking about.<br>It was time to end this horrifying battle, though neither would truly win. Even death would be better than having to face each other like this, shouting words so contrary to what was really in their hearts, forced to attack.  
>"Master Marik! I shall protect you!"<br>Everyone whirled to see the shaking figure of Odion at the steps. Yami couldn't bite back a gasp; with Odion awake, would Marik be submerged? Would he truly be gone?  
>"You have no business being here, Odion!" Marik snarled, a droplet of sweat running down his temple, eyes flicking frantically between Odion and Yami, as if to treasure the sight of his Pharaoh. "We were all doing just fine without you!" Odion laboriously staggered closer to the duelling platform. "Just look at you. You're barely able to stand up. How sad. Now if you can just stay on your feet for a few moments longer, you'll witness my triumph over the Pharaoh, and the demise of my weak side!"<br>But Odion kept going, and Yami balled his hands into fists, unsure if he were feeling anxious or not; with Odion's reappearance, would Malik have the strength to overpower Marik, and banish him? Yami had known that the end of this duel would be hard on both of them, for even with a victory they would lose something infinitely more precious, but throwing Odion into the mix like this made the outcome – already in doubt – even less likely to predict. All Yami could do was conceal his turmoil from Yugi and his friends, and pray that the moment of parting had not yet arrived.  
>"Release my master now!" Odion commanded, looking up at Marik atop Ra's head.<br>"Your master is almost gone," Marik said smugly. "I'm afraid you've come too late! I've taken his body, and the ShadowRealm is about to take his soul. The Malik you once knew will soon be extinct, Odion! And you'll no longer be able to hold me back."  
>"That's not true," Odion said quietly, grimly. "I've returned to ensure that your gentle spirit remains."<br>"That's enough!" Marik cried, and Odion was thrown back under the onslaught of the Millennium Rod. Yami witnessed the drama in front of him mutely, Yugi in just as much suspense as he was, though of course for different reasons.  
>"Master," Odion said, struggling up again, "Fight the evil within! We've conquered your wicked side before and we can do it again."<br>"Silence!" Marik yelled, and Odion was blasted back against the blimp's railing, crying out in pain. Yami clenched his jaw, holding back the anguished tears that threatened to rip away his veneer of calm. To see his lover like this, in his most ruthless manner, was almost heart breaking. Yami _knew_ he was capable of being a better person, of being gentle instead of cruel – he had felt it in the intimacy of his bed, secure and cradled in Marik's arms. But he also knew Marik was being purely reactive, responding instinctively to the threat to his existence that Odion posed. When unsure, Marik reacted the only way he had known for a long time – with Shadows and violence.  
>Marik glanced at Yami and the former Pharaoh knew he saw the tortured acceptance in Yami's eyes, and his expression softened slightly. <em>I'm sorry,<em> he seemed to say in that glance. _I never said I was a good man.  
><em>Odion swayed to his feet a third time, brushing off Ishizu's offer of help, and lurched towards Marik, who was looking more than a little discomfited at Odion's persistence.  
>"Please, Master!" Odion said, addressing Malik, "<em>You<em> have the power to defeat your dark side. Remember, _you're_ the one who created him. And you can destroy him!"  
>"I've heard enough! Now take this!" Marik said, raising his Rod once again to strike Odion down.<br>But suddenly he cried out in pain, hand clutching at the Shadowy space where his right eye, the only remnant of his body not joined to Ra, used to be. He screamed, both hands clutching at his head as his back arched.  
>"I've come too far to lose my grip now!" Marik howled, a note of real fear in his voice. But when he took his hand away from his face, Malik's eye filled the Shadowy gap in Marik's face.<br>"If you can hear me, Pharaoh," Malik's voice issued from Marik's mouth, "Attack now!"  
>"No, Marik!" Yami said from between gritted teeth. The others thought he was addressing Malik, but his indecision was for the dark spirit within the young Egyptian boy.<br>"Please, Pharaoh. I can't hold on much longer!" Malik begged as Marik's body trembled, trying to expel Malik's spirit. "I need your help to banish my dark half forever. I'm sorry for everything I've done to you and your friends! As a Tombkeeper I was raised to serve you, but I always resented this task, and my resentment turned to hatred and my dark half was born! What I did was wrong, but I am ready to take responsibility for my actions and correct the wrongs I've committed."  
>"Well said," Odion said proudly, and Ishizu beamed up at the mingled spirits of her brother. "I've waited so long to hear those words."<br>Marik seemed frozen, out of control while Malik temporarily took over his body.  
>"Please, Pharaoh! Attack! It's the only hope for my survival!" Malik urged.<br>But the Eye on Marik's forehead glowed brighter.  
>"No!" Marik yelled, back in control, "Don't listen to him!" Yami heard the unspoken message. <em>I don't want to die like this!<br>_"Yes! You must attack me to save mankind!" Malik screeched. "But hurry, I can't hold him back much longer!"  
>"We can't attack," Yugi said, the first time he and Yami had wholeheartedly agreed on anything during this duel. "It's just too risky. The force of our attack could send him straight to the ShadowRealm."<br>"Yugi," Yami said grimly, hands clenched as his heart pounded with dread, looking up at Marik's twitching body. "We have no choice. We _must_ trust him."  
>"<em>Pharaoh<em>!" Malik screamed. "You must attack me now! It's the only way!"  
>But… it would destroy Marik forever…<br>From high up on Ra's head, Marik looked down at Yami and smiled, just for his Pharaoh. It was a smile without rancour, and the veins that popped when he was stressed subsided for a moment. He smiled down at Yami like he had smiled at him the previous night. _Goodbye.  
><em>Yami looked up and forced a small smile too. He could not regret their time together, only that it had to end.  
>He played Ragnarok, discarding all his monsters in this last attack."No, you're making a mistake," Marik said, playing his part, for Yami was looking right at his face, at Marik's eye that seemed almost peaceful.<br>"I'm afraid it's too late. Ragnarok is already fused with every one of my monsters." Yami said, eyes never leaving Marik's face, knowing he was witnessing the last moments of his beloved's life. He would not look away, not when Marik would die and die by his own hand. "Now Dark Magicians, with the help of all my monsters, unleash your incredible force!"  
>Nothing less would be a fitting end for his Marik.<br>"No, stop! Call these creatures off right now!" Marik commanded half-heartedly. "No one can destroy my Winged Dragon of Ra. Release me, right now!"  
>He seemed annoyed at Kuriboh's hooting by his face, and Yami inwardly winced. He didn't think he'd want his last sight to be a Kuriboh either. But Marik's eye settled on Yami's face and his body didn't resist as Ra was crushed. He screamed, though. There was no denying the fact that it hurt, and Yami felt an answering cry in his throat, but he didn't allow it to escape. Instead he let Marik see what he was really feeling, pouring it into their locked gaze, a last farewell. He forced the words of victory to spill from his mouth, performing as he was expected in this horrible spectacle. They were like ash in his mouth, but he never looked away as his monsters, by his command, destroyed the only man who had ever, and probably could ever, understand and complete him.<br>When the whirlwind subsided, Malik's figure appeared out of the smoke and wind, and it took all Yami had to contain the scream of pain that hollered through his soul. There was no denying it. Marik was gone. He had killed him.  
>"Pharaoh, there is still one more task you and I must complete," Malik smiled, taking off Marik's cape. Yami watched it flutter to the ground forlornly. "I still have one Life Point left."<br>Yami repressed a gasp of joy as Marik's eye appeared in the air beside Malik. It stared sadly at Yami, who honestly thought his heart might burst at the sheer stress of this duel. To have seen Marik die, and then have this come back—! He couldn't take this. How many times must he kill Marik?  
>"Your move," Yami said quietly.<br>"I'm sorry, Pharaoh," Malik said, bowing his head. "It was my duty to help you and instead I turned my back. I can't change the past, but I _can_ start over by embracing my family legacy. I'm proud to be a Tombkeeper and I'm proud of my sister and my brother. My family has waited five thousand years for your return. Now you're here, so I must fulfil my destiny, by letting you fulfil yours."  
>Yami couldn't help but wish this were all over. He wanted Malik to make his move, and quickly, before Yami lost all his composure and broke down in front of everyone.<br>Malik closed his eyes and placed his hand over his deck. Surrender.  
>The last vestige of Marik's soul screamed as the Shadows boiled, the sound going right through Yami and into his memory. He knew he would never forget it, or the precious little time he had shared with Marik. Much as Marik had said, it had been the happiest time of his life.<br>_Marik…_Yami thought wretchedly, watching his lover ebb away.  
>"It's finally over, my Pharaoh," Malik smiled, eyes bright as the Shadows vanished into the daylight.<br>"Yes," Yami said, forcing a tone of cool command into his voice. "And the darkness is lifted from your heart." He almost choked over his own words.  
>Yugi was made whole and transparent as spirit again, exultant. "We won the duel!"<br>"You're safe now."  
>Yami buried the anguish and torment deep inside himself, forcing himself to endure the congratulations of his friends throughout the day. Every time Malik spoke Yami couldn't stop himself from searching for some hint of his darker half, for some sign that Marik wasn't gone forever. But he never found it, and it felt as if his heart broke afresh when the realisation crashed down on him, again and again, like icy waves.<br>He may have won the Battle City Tournament, and saved the world, but he had lost the only comfort he had in this world, the only person who – he could finally admit it now, when all must be in vain – who had loved him truly, loved him for everything that he was. He had lost the only person he felt he could love, as well. No one else knew of the longings in his heart, of the way his mind worked. No one else knew how to read him and instinctively understand what was required. Not even Yugi.  
>And Yami knew he was the only one who had ever seen past Marik's outward shows of cruelty, and that he was the only person Marik had ever let come close to his heart; and Yami knew he had been held in Marik's heart as tightly as he had been held in Marik's arms.<br>_But now he's gone, and I'll never see him again.  
><em>The only token he had of Marik was the Millennium Rod, which Yami grasped tightly. Yugi obviously thought his grip was do with the triumph he assumed Yami was feeling over their victory, though in reality it was something must simpler and much more powerful.  
>Even the return of Mai and Ryou did little to lighten Yami's heart. As soon as he could, he excused himself and locked the door to Yugi's room.<br>"What's the matter?" Yugi asked, putting a translucent hand on Yami's shoulder in a weird echo of Yami's actions, the first night Marik and he had become lovers. Yami flinched slightly and Yugi took his hand away, a little hurt.  
>"It's nothing, Yugi. I'm glad everyone is safe. I would just like to be alone right now."<br>"Alright," Yugi said dubiously.  
>As soon as Yugi was back in his soul room, Yami climbed onto the bed they had loved in and sat hunched over, eyes closed and holding the Rod tight against his chest. Tears fell down his cheeks in a cool stream as his shoulders shook with the effort of weeping silently.<br>He whispered Marik's name, trying to find comfort in the simple sound, but there was none for him. Only Marik himself could comfort Yami now, and he bitterly knew there was no chance of it.  
>He surrendered control completely, and wept with all his being, Rod held against him as if he wanted to impale himself on it.<br>"Marik…"

* * *

><p>OTL Why oh why do I insist on writing such angsty fics? I think there's something wrong with me T^T<p>

The next thing you'll hear from me will be something cracky and silly to cure these soul-pains. Bye for now~ *sniffle*


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